


My Best (Hated) Father (Monster)

by GeekWithTea



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 1 year after Undertale, Dad W.D Gaster, Evil W. D. Gaster, F/F, F/M, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Multi Chapter, Other, Post-Pacifist Route, Self-Harm, humanoid experimentation, kids with crushes, pairings only hinted at, papyrus is reset aware, scientific experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:08:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7278436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekWithTea/pseuds/GeekWithTea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>W.D. Gaster has returned from the void and Papyrus couldn't feel any worse about it...nor could Sans be any happier, but who is Papyrus to ruin his happiness...maybe. How do you handle your own father the beast when everyone else sees the saint?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unwanted Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Papyrus has his day ruined by a miracle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am part of something called the "Pap Chat" and we were discussing some stuff about if Papyrus hated Gaster and I accidentally made a fanfic of it. I would love to promise a regular schedule, but I don't know. I would prefer to finish this during the summer. Anyway, enjoy!

He opened the window to the sun and smiled once again for the first year in a row. Not that he hadn’t smiled, but the  _ sun _ . Papyrus didn’t want to get too comfortable, no, that wouldn’t be fair. Logging off the computer and closing the messages of at least three well meaning friends who had questioned him for an hour each what he was doing up at three in the morning. It looked like breakfast was in order, the residual happiness of seeing the sun still with him. Not an act this time, he skipped down the stairs, watching for any sock traps lying on them, but only one was to be found, which he easily avoided. The smile continued as he made it to the kitchen table, where it dropped for just a moment. Nothing to be concerned about, but enough to be puzzled about.

_ hey bro, something came up and i will be right back before you can say spaghetti _

Papyrus bit back a chuckle and whispered the word; but nobody came.

A shiver went down his spine, but he ignored it. He always died before Sans in timelines where Frisk was in control. It would be the same as always, and Sans wouldn’t promise to be back if he went to ‘disappear’. That had happened enough timelines that he figured out not only when it was happening, but had a higher success rate at stopping it than he had long ago.

Throwing on a pot of water to start his spaghetti pancakes, he flipped through his phone with a glass of water in hand.

**ALPHYS UPDATED HER STATUS:** _ KIND OF FREAKING OUT, THERE’S SOME WEIRD SKELETON IN MY LAB, AND SANS THIS ISN’T FUNNY IF IT IS YOU >:( _

His hands let go of both their objects, and while the phone was saved, the glass shattered across the floor. He trembled, wiping away a phantom sensation of sweat and giggle nervously.

“It’s not him. It’s not him.” He whispered, rubbing frantically at his arms.

**PAPYRUS UPDATED HIS STATUS:** _ wkjeowjepfowedkofdjwjfpivpoew09393kdssjfoifsjspo _

Whoops.

**PAPYRUS UPDATED HIS STATUS:** _ SORRY! THIS PIANO TILES LEVEL WAS CRAZY AND I DIDN’T NOTICE THAT IT WAS TRYING TO SHARE MY SCORE. _

**UNDYNE UPDATED HER STATUS:** _ That’s hilarious, lol! Yo, did you guys hear about the spooky skele-man? And no, Papyrus still has spaghetti in his cabinet. _

Undyne. That was one time… one time, like… 4 months ago. Why couldn’t she have just let it go? Friends sometimes toss friends out of windows when they use up each other’s spaghetti, right? So what if the video went viral? 

**PAPYRUS COMMENTED ON UNDYNE’S STATUS:** _ HARDY HAR HAR. YOU ARE HILARIOUS, I AM HOLDING MY SIDES RIGHT NOW. WHAT’S THIS ABOUT SOME WEIRD SKELETON? DO I HAVE ANOTHER BROTHER? OR IS THIS A SISTER? _

He giggled as he pressed send. He wondered how many of the monsters caught that he was joking?

**UNDYNE COMMENT ON UNDYNE’S STATUS:** _ YO! Sans is just blabbering up some crap about you three being related? ASGORE YOU OWE ME MONEY! _

The phone dropped, as did the skeleton. Surrounded in a puddle of glassy water, fingers gripped the cranium. The chest heaved up and down. Oh no. Oh no no. Oh no no no. It was him. Gaster was back. No no no no no no no...

This had turned from the best reset to the worst reset ever with one little status update. He would rather be  _ dust _ than this. Even when Flowey had tried to commandeer him to his image didn’t match up to this.

Gaster. Was. Back.

_ Needles, needles everywhere. Everything, numb, numb, numb. Pain splitting, head cracking, silent screams. A small smile. _

_ {This is all for him.}   _ __   
  


His arm went into his mouth, biting down on it as hard as he could. He wasn’t there. He wasn’t there. Was he there? Was he there? Was he there? Where was he?

The marrow wasn’t bitter. It was just there, peeking underneath the surface. Not that sickly sweet taste it had been that time. He let the blandness sooth him, felt the pain bring waves of clarity that he needed, the dusty texture slapping him back to reality. Orange saline touched the tip of his lips, and he removed the arm from the demeaning position between his teeth and wiped the tears away, allowing the salty burn to complete the process of returning to reality.

Through blurry eyes, he examined his arm. It was normal, not glowing like it had back then. It also had teeth marks, which was not normal. It looked as if it could pass as a dog bite. He really had to stop doing that. Normal monsters didn’t damage themselves like that.   
  


The phone rings, blaring a poor crackling version of the John Cena theme that he still despises, and cringes. Sans is calling, and it would take a true idiot not to guess why.

He coughs to clear any thickness in his voice, puts up a cheesy grin that he doesn’t feel for a second.

“GOOD MORNING MY WONDERFUL BROTHER! WHAT DO YOU CALL FOR AT THIS EARLY HOUR?” The dread remains, but until the elephant in the closet is brought up, it is a little easier. Unfortunately, Sans doesn’t waste time.

“you are not going to believe this for a second! dad’s back! he’s actually back! it’s amazing! people are starting to remember him again!” Sans must assume he remembers now too. His voice wavers and Papyrus’ feels his hope points drop by four. Sans is happy. Sans is actually happy. Why can’t it be over something good? Then again, Sans never knew any different. Everyone has their secrets. He knew for some reason that his brother and him had been… spared…? of forgetting the man, though Papyrus, the selfish one as always had been more than happy to pretend that he had forgotten.

“WE HAVE A DAD AGAIN?!” He feigns surprise, excitement, and whatever one should expect when someone hears their dad is back from the dead.

“paps! we need to celebrate! come to the lab asap! he’s dying to see you!”

“I’ll be over at the speed of sound!” He grinned verbally, but internally he wished that his brother was speaking literally. It was a bad thought, a horrible thought, but Gaster was a bad man so perhaps he could be excused for once. Well, he had to face it sooner or later. He pulled the spaghetti off the burner with a heavy sigh as he prepared to go to the lab, mentally shielding himself for the inevitable.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some of this seemed a little vague, but next chapter will give some insight into how Gaster got back. Kudos makes a happy Geek and while I won't stop if I don't get attention, it does make it easier :)


	2. A Joyous Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If one brother hates Gaster, does the other brother?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thanks guys for all the attention you have given this story! Thirty kudos in a week? That's really good guys! And I will admit, I am super happy about those status updates and I am glad you liked them too.

The clock read for four in the morning, and Sans was wondering if perhaps it was time to stop playing on his phone. After all, he probably would not be getting a whole lot of sleep tonight if his brother had anything to say about it.

Fluffing up his pillow and taking one last swig of ketchup, he went to turn out his lamp when the theme of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2 started to play. What was Alphys doing calling at this hour...or more specifically...calling?

“welcome to the mmk2 fan club, how may I help you?”

“I l-literally h-hate you s-s-s-so much right now...b-by the w-way, w-w-would you b-b-be p-pranking me right n-now” She had always been a stutterer on the phone, but there was something off.

“nah, it’s not your turn, and, um...everything okay alphys? you’ve been getting into the coffee again?”

“V-very f-f-funny. T-there is someone i-i-in here. I-I feel l-like I should k-know them b-but there is something w-weird! I-I’m h-hiding in the lab...like...the l-lab lab.” She whispered over the line.

Rule number one: if it sounded like a horror movie premise, stuff was going down and wasn’t that a candidate? “I’m coming.” 

Slipping on a shirt at the foot of his bed, he grabbed a piece of a paper and a pen writing a quick note to his brother, tossing it in the direction of the kitchen table and teleported straight to Hotland. It was dark, with the reflections of the lava only illuminating the shadows. He chuckled quietly, a mixture of nervousness and humour, feeling as if he just got cast straight into one of those B-rated horror films. So was this the crap sequel to the judgement hall runs? Frisk has been on their best behaviour, so perhaps it was just some spin off. He prepared to summon a blaster just in case...

Nope. Nope. Something just moved in the dark. Nope.

If he didn’t see Alphys as a friend...

“chara, you freaky little trash kid, you hanging around?” He pretended his voice sounded a little more casual than slightly nervous.

{...Sans...is that you?}

He swore in both hands and english, including a few words he had forgotten he had in his vocabulary. In the background he saw a blue light and quickly put away the hastily summoned Gaster Blaster. Gaster.…no, it couldn’t be him. Yes, it was spoken in hands, but Gaster was gone.

A little bit of light illuminated to the bathroom sign, and he quickly slid by it, trying to decipher where that voice had come from in case he’d accidentally exposed her to whatever it is. If only teleportation didn’t create an energy wave...Knocking on the door softly in the first bar of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie’s second beginning theme, he hoped that would be specific enough that she would know that was him.

She did, and her scaly hand yanked him into the elevator.

“H-holy...y-you’re here!” She exclaimed with a whisper, giving him a quick hug.

“hey. how long has this been going on?”

“An hour. It’s...it’s...” She trembled, and Sans just pat her on the back.

“well, its nice having company when creeps are wandering around your space.” He grinned. Well, he had been grinning in the first place, but he made a point of exaggerating it.

“O-oh gosh! I-I-I didn’t m-m-mean to...” Her chest heaved slightly but he shushed her quietly. He’d probably pay for that later, but having a panic attack based on guilt would not be pleasant along with what else had been going understandably with her mind.

“you didn’t ask me to come, so this one is on me. besides, i’m sure the secret admirer isn’t an axe murderer.” Okay, tibia-honest he wasn’t actually entirely sure of that but best not to scare her off.

She chuckled weakly and tried to grin at him. “Well, w-who ever i-it is, they’ll have to b-buzz o-off as I-I have the b-best girlfriend in the...”

The door swung open and screams filled the air, along with four packages of instant ramen, a cellphone and the light of two Gaster blasters. There was a wave of violet magic, suspending everything coming towards the doors. Sans watched in no shortage of horror as his own blasters went away from them, as if they had a new master.

That terror quickly turned to fury. Yes, Sans used them, but they weren’t his. They belonged to him and damn it all if he allowed this thing to just steal them. It just got personal.

Standing up quickly, ignoring the ramen dropped at his feet, he methodically walked towards the door with eye lights out and hands in his pockets.

“B u d d y. W h a t a r e y o u d o i n g w i t h t h o s e?”

{That should be obvious enough, my son.}

No...it couldn’t be...but how? His eyelights returned to their normal state as his body rattled. From the door, he looked worse for wear, with two gaping cracks in his skull and an inky black body that splashed the floor like a slow dripping faucet but it was him. He never forgot him. Gaster...dad...

“D-dad?!” Alphys squeaked behind him. “S-sans is t-this really your dad?!” He registered what she had said to an extent, but found himself woefully incapable of answering her. He heard her run out of the lab and flicked on the switch, illuminating the room. His eyes must have been adjusting to the light, as they were blurry and his face took in the heat from Hotland.…

Screw it.

He ran like he hadn’t in decades. Like a child who had been lost, his legs carried him so fast he thought he was flying, and dived into the waiting arms of his father. Even seeing the sun for the first time had not done this to him. His own father, back!

“i...thought you were dead...” He choked, nuzzling further into the black mass of his chest. Perhaps it was uncouth to want to be held this tightly by his own parents at his age, but surely it could be overlooked tonight.

“Oh. Oh!” Alphys tittered, and he heard the excited dialing of a phone. “Undyne you are not going to believe w-what happened tonight!” Her voice got softer as she ran off to who knew-or at this moment, cared-where.

{I suppose death is a temporary state.} Gaster chuckled, a voice like a warm, welcoming hearth.

“h-how did you come back?”

{A year ago, an excess of manipulable energy became accessible to me, and I was able to be released. While some of the energy was indeed used to break the barrier, and much of the excess returned to the monsters that the energy was stolen from, some of the human souls were not used up because of the human and monster soul energy buffer, leaving a quantity at my disposal, and I was given the proper amount of time to utilize it.} Straight to the point, as always. Sans grinned. It was good to see he hadn’t changed.

{Now, I believe we have a great deal to catch up on.} Gaster smiled softly. Sans paused quietly. He didn’t want to explain the resets, so what could he talk about?

It had been almost five years ago. Surely coming up with something wouldn’t be that hard.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“...the neighbour had been so freaked out someone had attacked her dog, but it was just the spaghetti sauce Paps threw on the dog to get it to stop chewing his femur.” Sans wheezed as both men wiped tears of laughter from their eyes.

“I-I really hate to interrupt, I-I really do...but did you tell Papyrus about...all this? Because I think Undyne just had to break the news over Undernet. You may want to call him because he didn’t respond for almost half an hour. Sorry, I would h-have told you sooner b-but I was kind of mad at Undyne because her and Asgore decided to bet on the outcome of the story because ‘I-I wasn’t clear e-enough for the f-first twenty m-minutes.”

Sans just stared at nothing, silent for a while. Both Gaster and Alphys watched him as to see what would be the result of his delay.

“paps! how could i forget?!” Quickly and with shaking hands, he hit the speed dial for his brother’s phone.

“GOOD MORNING MY WONDERFUL BROTHER! WHAT DO YOU CALL FOR AT THIS LATE HOUR?”

“you are not going to believe this for a second! dad’s back! he’s actually back! it’s amazing! people are starting to remember him again!”

There’s a pause for a moment. Not long enough to be concerned, but long enough to know it was there.

“WE HAVE A DAD AGAIN?” Yes Papyrus, yes they did.

“paps! we need to celebrate! come to the lab asap! he’s dying to see you!” He didn’t even need him to say it. Who would hesitate on seeing such an awesome family member as Pap?

“I’LL BE OVER AT THE SPEED OF SOUND!” The phone clicked off and for a moment he thought his eyes would water once more. They were going to be a whole family again.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Riverperson whistled a tune, and Papyrus did his very best not to collapse on himself. The Riverperson was not paid enough to deal with mental breakdowns. Plus, they were an expert on gossip.

“Tra la la la. Beware the man who speaks in hands.” Tell him something he didn’t know. For once, Papyrus wished that there was a scenic tour-some outside force he could blame for taking his time to see Gaster. No such luck. Soon, and with a great deal of internal woe, stepped off the boat onto the solid rock. He hated Hotland. He really hated Hotland. As he walked closer to the lab, he frowned deeper internally. At least it wasn’t the core.

When the door opened, it took everything he had not to scream and run off the cliff bases of the region. There was Gaster, standing in front of him. Papyrus realized wryly how spoiled he had been the past four years: he only had to see him in nightmares.

{Papyrus! Its good to see you! You must have been determined to get here that fast!} His father smiles and Papyrus takes in a deep breath to quickly suppress the wave of nausea that came that innocent joke. For once, he was glad he didn’t eat the spaghetti he had been making.

“nice pun game, dad! tickled my funny bone.” Sans elbowed.

Papyrus forced a chuckle. “YOU ONLY GET A LAUGH BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG. THAT WAS AS BAD AS SANS’.” It wasn’t even a contest. Papyrus would have taken millions of those puns over what that was.

“that’s what I was pa-telling you dad! he still hates them!” Sans laughed. A lingering of childhood resentment rose up within him, but it was quelled instantly. How could Sans be blamed for ignorance when it was Papyrus who kept him in the dark?

{Well, that’s unfortunate, for puns have always ran through a skeleton’s veins. Figuratively speaking of course.} Gaster and Sans smiled, and so did Papyrus, but so did his desperation to leave.

“god, when was the last time we actually were together as a family?” Sans signalled Papyrus over, and not one to disappoint his older brother, he got closer. Suddenly he was pulled into Gaster by a thick arm as Gaster likely experienced the same. “family hug!”

It had been for Sans. It had always been for Sans. But as he shared the same air with his father once more, he knew he couldn’t go back. Gaster had to be gone. Permanently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case anyone was wondering what the time frame was: 1. Alphys posts her status about Gaster. 2. At 4, she calls Sans in to see if he is pranking her. He comes to the lab to meet up with his Dad. 3. In her excitement, Alphys calls Undyne, but because time-crap is a little hard to explain, Undyne texts a half-asleep Asgore to try to make a bet to see if the skeleton her girlfriend is describing is related to the brothers. This takes around 30 minutes. Papyrus' disassociation trauma spell takes place for around 30 minutes as well, which is why he made it to the marrow. And there you go! 
> 
> Will Papyrus actually try to kill Gaster? Well, I am not going into details, but even thoughts can have consequences...


	3. Thoughts of Patricide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus battles a major dilemma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning. TW Emetophobia. 
> 
> Also, most times chapters will never update this fast but I was so excited to get to this chapter, plus I had already written the middle scene for this one prior.

To say Papyrus was torn was an understatement for the ages. He paced around the bedroom, hugging himself. The door was locked, and he was playing a recording of himself singing while cleaning. No one should even think to try to disturb him for at least a couple of hours. Quite frankly, he didn’t think he wanted anyone to know even a single word of what was going through his head.

There was two options, and both carried severe consequences that he wasn’t ready to face. The pros of killing Gaster: Gaster wouldn’t be able to hurt him, Gaster would return to being a figment of the past, Gaster wouldn’t ever come back. The cons of killing Gaster: Sans would be devastated. The pros of keeping Gaster alive: Sans would be happy. The cons of keeping Gaster alive: Papyrus would have to fear for his life and Gaster would be part of his present until he died of some natural cause that could take forever to manifest. 

This choice was impossible, but it came down to who was going to be happy. It would be so selfish to just kill him...but Papyrus was just so scared. Who could protect him from Gaster? Gaster was just...something else. No one else had figured out what Gaster had done, and it had just been a happy accident that had taken him away for so long. Other than someone walking in when Gaster was hurting him at the exact second would do it, and even then he was doubtful that they would know.

However, Papyrus had already hurt Sans, pretending to be blissfully unaware of who Gaster was. He knew exactly how much the whole situation had hurt Sans, pretended he didn’t hear him crying himself to sleep during that first year and a half, allowed his hope to drop to one. Didn’t he owe Sans? Didn’t he?

…He did. Gaster would be staying alive. He couldn’t be the awful little brother no longer. He actually had to be the Great Papyrus to his brother, not just his friends.

Papyrus chucked himself onto the bed, muffling a scream in the red pillow. Thank goodness it had timed perfectly with the song that he had been singing during his recording. Why was this happening to him? For most of his life, he had been a good person, and surely the good was enough to reduce the karmic retribution.

Who was he kidding? He was a selfish, idiotic waste of bones, and he deserved what was coming to him. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, but with a slap to the face, they went away as quickly as they came.

His phone dinged, and with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he dragged himself towards it. It had been filled with congratulations which he responded with just as much fake excitement as he could. He would take anything at this point.

Unknown number sent (1) new message: Greetings Papyrus. Your brother and I were talking, and we think it would be best if I stayed with you two for a while. Are you okay with it? Sans would have asked himself, but apparently you are fairly intimidating when cleaning.

Numbly and with all the thought of an automaton, typed out SOUNDS GREAT on his phone. Because what else was he to answer?

The garbage can his trusty ally, he tasted his spaghetti a second time. Saline ran down his eyes as his body racked with the absolute hell that had just been bestowed on him. One he certainly should have seen coming. Breath came in ragged, and for what was probably only a minute that felt like an hour, his insides expelled instead of carbon dioxide.

God, his cooking was terrible a second time. It really was. He let out a bitter chuckle at his own joke that was more than likely a sob. Keep it together. Keep it together.

Things had just changed. With practice from all these years ago, he opened his window and slid slowly out, grateful this window didn’t face the living room or required too much scaling. He had to see someone about a murder.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Flowey! Flowey my friend where are you?” Papyrus called out, wringing his hands together. He felt disgusting, but surely his friend wouldn’t mind. After all, Flowey had killed him...2156...no 2157 times, so was it that bad to ask him to kill someone else for him? He did technically owe him, after all. Not that he had ever thought that way before.

Plus, Gaster was someone who couldn’t stay alive. He felt sick for asking but the things Gaster had done were unforgivable, and this from the man who stood in front of a murderous child to be decapitated without a fight 27 times. He still believed Frisk could do better even then and had meant every word when he told each entity when he said he still believed in him. Gaster could not be allowed to be in such close quarters.

“Howdy!”

The sound that erupted was hardly dignified as he scrambled away from the sudden yellow appearance from the ground, obscuring his left foot in a bright flash of petals.

“Golly! I haven’t scared you like that since...oh...I don’t remember that reset...”

Taking a couple of breaths to race his heart-or was it just his soul? Skeletons didn’t have squishy bits like other species of monster.

“R-RESET 3473...” He huffed, plastering his trademark smile on his face. It had been kind of funny, so it was a little easier than it may have been.

Flowey made no secret of finding that funny. “That wasn’t very long ago! Guess I have a talent for scaring people, even after all this time. Though, this was our first time on the surface for a year so this can’t be that repetitive. But you called for me so~” The smile was mocking, but not cruelly. His friend was beginning to change, but not everything changed so quickly.

“THAT I DID! MY FRIEND, I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU!”

“About?” Flowey blinked expectantly. It would have been comical but, well today wasn’t suited for that.

How did one approach this? ‘Could I ask you to murder someone for me?’ was a little too blunt, and it made him feel icky. ‘There is this really nasty guy who should still be dead for the good of monsterkind’ seemed like a good start but Flowey was far too curious and that could lead into things Papyrus didn’t want to discuss, such as why he wants his own.…no, he didn’t earn that title. Not for Papyrus at least.

“Well?” It was one word, but Papyrus could hear the internal screaming. Or was that just his own? He couldn’t tell.

“I...WANTED...TO ASK YOU HOW YOUR DAY WAS?” Even a toddler could have picked up on how fake that was and Flowey was far smarter.

“Well, if you insist.…” Flowey quickly shot him an expectant stare, but then humoured him. They both knew he was stalling for time. “I would say it was fantastic! I can’t say I loved it because...” he laughed “no soul and all that. Toriel decided to bake one of her famous pies and...” he looked around left, right and behind with a wicked grin, gesturing Papyrus to lean down. 

“I ate the whole pie and blamed it on Frisk!”

Papyrus blinked, and then laughed. It was loud, boisterous, and for the first time in twenty four hours, genuine. Poor Frisk, but it was so ridiculous. What a child!

Child...

He was about to ask...a child...

To murder...

For...

Him...

His vision got blurry, and his breath hitched. Fingers clawed at the side of his head as he collapsed in on himself. Oh God, he had wanted a child to murder for him! A child to sully their hands for his sake! When Flowey was finally beginning to be happy he wanted to drag him into this mess again. He was a horrible monster. He was a failure. He tried to take his brother’s happiness from him by getting a child to murder for him. He should throw himself back into the Underground, let the dust spread across whatever waited for him. He was a beast...

“...Papyrus...?” The voice was soft, concerned...scared even. “What are you saying?”

Papyrus slammed a hand over his mouth. “WHAT DID I SAY...?” He whispered.

“That you should throw yourself into the Underground.” There was little emotion behind his voice. “And that you were a beast over and over. Is something going on? I haven’t seen you break like this since the last run where Sans fell down...” 

Sans...what was he doing? Why couldn’t he let his brother be happy? Gaster was what Sans wanted, so why was Papyrus trying to take it away...

“I’m the worst brother ever.…” He bemoaned, flopping to the side. He really should just throw himself in the Underground.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something was happening. This was not standard Papyrus. It took some real work to get Papyrus this...whatever this was...so what happened?

Flowey was not one to pass up on a good mystery. Also, that sobbing was really starting to grate on his ears, and he felt this weird and really strong sensation, like...what had Frisk described it as...worry? Was that it?

“Papyrus...” He started. No answer, the skeleton was far too busy crying to be able to hear him. Not that he blamed him...could anyone be that loud? Soon enough the entire neighbourhood would be investigating, and while that would certainly be interesting, the two had built a mutual respect on keeping secrets for each other, and Flowey knew Papyrus knew who he used to be. What’s to say he wouldn’t reveal it if someone else found out the skeleton wasn’t as happy as he let on?

Flowey was frantic. He had to calm him down soon, but what? Think, Flowey, think!

Oh Papyrus owed him for this. He really, really did.

Popping up beside Papyrus’ skull, he cleared his throat. “We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine, we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine...” Flowey’s voice was flatline. He really despised this song. Please calm down Papyrus...he really didn’t want to continue that song anymore.

Papyrus still quivered, but Flowey was sure that he heard a snort. “W-WHAT WAS THAT?” Papyrus sniffled, but there was a little giggle mixed in. “DON’T YOU HATE THAT SONG?”

“I would still go back in time to get rid of the Beatles. Just saying.” Flowey grumbled, but hearing his friend giggle just a little, well it filled him with determination...and relief.

“I-I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY SUNG THAT. DIDN’T YOU TRY TO THROW FRISK’S IPOD SHUFFLE OUT THE WINDOW ON THE THIRD PLAYTHROUGH.” Papyrus was laughing a little. He was still crying but he seemed to be on the uptake.

“Well, that’s what friends are for, right?” He still couldn’t call Papyrus his best friend because Chara, but Papyrus was close enough.

“YEP.” His fell closer to a whisper and he whimpered. Well, at least this meant the major breakdown was done. He had seen something like this from him before.

“You owe me. You got to tell me what’s going now. I just sang a Beatles song to make you stop crying.” Flowey couldn’t fold his arms, but surely his face gave off the impression-and no, it didn’t look like Mom’s face, Frisk.

“I SUPPOSE I DO. A VERY BAD MAN...” Papyrus don’t even play this crap. Just don’t.

He got right up in his face with the most sadistic sneer that he could muster. “Papyrus, I don’t think this is the time for babying.”

“A MAN WHO TREATED ME VERY BADLY JUST CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO...”

“Easy. Kill him. Gosh Papyrus that’s-” Flowey mimicked a shrug with his stem.

“I actually wanted to.”

Flowey’s jaw dropped. Literally dropped. Papyrus...wanted to kill someone? Actually, legitimately wanted to kill someone. He had only ever killed someone once, and that was after Flowey had tortured the skeleton to see if he could actually get him to kill someone.

A high pitched sob emerged from the grown skeleton and he shoved his hands into his face.

“I AM SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON! I WAS GOING TO ASK YOU TO KILL HIM FOR ME! I CAN’T MAKE YOU DO MY DIRTY WORK JUST BECAUSE I CAN’T BRING MYSELF TO DO IT! BESIDES, I WOULD HURT SANS SO MUCH...” His voice grew more and more hysterical.

“What is he? Smiley Trashbag’s ex boyfriend?”

“NO, FLOWEY. HE’S OUR DAD.”  
“Your...dad...hurt you?” Flowey’s voice grew tight as the familiar sensation of anger returned.

Papyrus was rendered non verbal, and just sobbed into the ground. Flowey rested his head on top of Papyrus’ skull, not sure what else he could do. It surely wouldn’t be that hard to find out who he was and quite frankly, he knew exactly which brother’s happiness he cared to preserve. What was with all his friends having horrible parents? Sure he had murdered his quite a few times, but he had never actually had problems with them.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. PLEASE DON’T MURDER GASTER FOR ME. I TAKE BACK MY REQUEST.”

“Not a problem, friend. You have your own things to worry about.”

Flowey would just kill Gaster as a gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


	4. Potential Victim, Meet Potential Murderer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frisk uses combo names for people, so in case you are wondering what is up with their names for people, that is what is going on.

Flowey wasn’t dumb, and he could be patient. He waited over two weeks to take his opportunity. Toriel had consented to him not living in the flower pot all the time, but had a dog shock collar which allowed him to travel around the vicinity of his home, the brothers’ home, and Dad’s home. He wasn’t allowed to cross the road to visit Alphys and Undyne with the borders, but he didn’t complain at all about that. If he was going to murder Gaster, then he needed to save taking off his collar for a good moment, because he would only get one chance. He just hoped that Frisk would hold good to their promise to not reset anymore.

He really wanted to meet Gaster, and sometimes having the ex-queen of the Underground as a mom-even if she didn’t know that-came in real handy. He would have far preferred to have just stalked him, but if Sans was half as attached to Gaster’s hip as Papyrus described, Flowey knew that he would have been met with a Gaster...blaster...oh...that’s where the name came from. That was kind of sad actually. Flowey was eight and had murdered his parents multiple times while Sans was in his...what...early thirties...and still hung out with his dad that much? Man, don’t some people need to grow up? Regardless, Toriel was getting all the monsters together to celebrate Gaster’s returns, and even the robot was coming. For once he was grateful-Papyrus was not doing well.

Gaster had yet to try anything with Papyrus yet-well, that’s what he was told and he hadn’t seen any bruises, but Papyrus was doing everything he could to avoid being home. Apparently, two different coworkers were on “maternity leave”-whatever that was-and he was picking up their shifts. Some of the time, he was working at the Italian restaurant, others he was hanging out with Flowey in the little hidden space behind Dad’s house, bringing Nice Cream with him. Flowey had caused a bit of a stir at his home three days ago when he refused to eat dinner as he had come by three different times with offerings of Nice Cream during the day. Still, Papyrus spent far too much time at the house for his own sake.

Undyne and Alphys were the first to walk in, followed closely by Dad who had probably been hanging outside the door waiting for someone to come in before him. He didn’t mind Undyne. She was cool-after all, how could you hate someone who let you trash your Mom’s kitchen and then let you all watch gorey anime? Alphys on the other hand...well, they had a history. Dad was Dad. Then, the skeletons came in. The first thing he noticed about Gaster was that he was refined-like someone who absolutely would have a separate salad fork from a regular food fork. He was immaculate with his suit and lapel pin. He certainly looked the type that he would want to murder. Papyrus followed behind him. Not closely enough that it looked like he wanted to, but close enough that he had to.

“Yo nerd! So this is your dad?” She went over and noogied Papyrus, who seemed to be caught off guard more by the action than he normally was.

“PLEASE DO NOT NOOGIE THE SKELETON.” Papyrus chuckled, though still cringed.

[Let’s go meet Gaster!] Frisk grinned and quickly grabbed Flowey’s indoor pot and brought it over. It was kind of surreal, meeting someone who you knew you wanted to kill. Most times, it just kind of happened. Even with Alphys, he had known her for a while before he found out it was her fault. This was the first. All he could hope for was that no one would figure out his intentions.

[Sans!] they signed an s followed by whoopie cushion, which for whatever reason had been Sans’ name of choice. He preferred s and trash himself. Frisk quick gave a look to Gaster as if trying to decide what they should call him.

{G-science. Dr. G-science} Papyrus had a poorly timed cringe, though Flowey knew no one else would notice. They were all idiots. Then again, to most people there was nothing scandalous about science. Papyrus did though. Sure he had been proud to talk about his brother’s old profession and doctorate, but had held a dislike of Alphys after he told him about becoming her experiment. His frostiness had gone away almost immediately after meeting her, but that was Papyrus through and through. He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but the fact Papyrus was willing to dislike someone was a little odd.

What had Gaster done to his friend? If he did what he think he did...

“uh, face-plant? you’re looking a little rose-y there.” His eyelights remained, but Flowey could easily imagine Sans without them. He was right. He was getting a little...frustrated. Bad start if you want to murder someone. If Flowey hadn’t been fighting a semi-pacifist Frisk or had access to the six souls, it would have gone far worse for him after he killed his Dad that run.

“What did I say about puns in this house?” Flowey put on his best disapproving grown up face though already understood just how futile this would be.

“that they are amazing, perfect and i should tell even more of them?” Cheeky trashbag.

“No!”

“ah, come on petals!”

“No! Frisk! We’re leaving!” Flowey commanded. He’d have plenty of time to observe Gaster. He didn’t like Papyrus that much. With a disappointed groan, Frisk dropped him on the center of the living room coffee table and sat beside him.

“Hello darlings~” Why. Just why.

The lights flickered a moment, until they settled on a pink hue and all turned to watch as Mettaton slid down the bannister. There was some polite clapping, a couple of cheers and a sharp groan from a certain plant, one he made no issue of hiding.

“That was so lame. Like, who comes up with that weird stuff?”

[Says Omega Flowey and the Absolute God of Hyperdeath] Frisk signed quietly, which a cheeky smile that Flowey wanted to rip off.

“Shut up! Those were the coolest things you will ever see, human!” He hissed, trying to look as scary as possible. Frisk, however didn’t seem to care.

[I thought all those performances were cute.] Frisk the flirting slayer was at it...again.

Nope. Nope. Nuh uh. He was a big scary flower, he wouldn’t stand for this. He...he just felt like...doing an ostrich impersonation! Yeah...ha...big funny birds. Nope.

“Well, it is lovely to see you all here...where is Napstablook?” Mom piped up, smiling patiently, as if a robot had not just slid all over her banister.

“I’m here.” You could barely hear the voice, but they phased through the floor onto a chair. “Sorry.”

“Not a problem at all my dear.” Toriel smiled softly. “I put on some lovely snail pie.” Flowey and Frisk shared an identically repulsed look, but moved towards the dining room table anyway. Flowey sat between Dad and Papyrus as Frisk moved themselves between Sans and Toriel, but not before grinning like a brat up at them, and then winking at Flowey. No mushiness at the table tonight. Good. Undyne and Alphys sat beside each other on the other side of Dad with Mettaton and Blooky beside Alphys. Then of course, the guest of honour sat between his two sons. Being a flower gave you surprisingly good peripherals.

{So, Toriel, I hear that you are with my son?} Gaster smiled patiently. There was something oddly familiar about that smile, as if one was waiting quietly to just continue on with the plot.

“Yes, and these two are my children.” She gestured to Frisk and himself. “They’re both wonderful, and both so smart.” Flowey blushed quietly. She still was talking about that math test where the two tied for 100% when the rest failed. It was still kind of embarrassing, after all it was a month ago.

{Ah yes. These are my two boys. Sans here finished his doctorate two years early, without even trying. Theoretical physics with a thesis on the stability with the multiverse theory.} It was nice to see Sans being embarrassed for something, though it was too positive. Why couldn’t it be for anything negative versus something like praise or flirting with Flowey’s own Mom?

{And this here is Papyrus. He is a very sweet boy.} Well, wasn’t that blunt? Every parent had their favourites. Even the royal parents had. He had gotten his Dad’s favouritism while Chara got his Mom’s-but they had been far more subtle about it than that. Heck, maybe even an adult may catch on to it.

“You need not introduce your sons to me. I am with your eldest, and your youngest may as well live here. He practically begs me to go somewhere so he can babysit these two.” Toriel and Gaster shared a laugh. Guess adults were that ignorant. In fact, it only seemed as if Papyrus had caught on. Flowey was reminded of how many times he had tried to convince Papyrus that he was clearly the smarter brother between the two.

“Yo, Paps! You’re looking a little down. You alright?” Undyne called out, and all turned towards the taller skeleton. Uh oh. Flowey quickly eyed towards the decorative plates on the walls, preparing a couple of friendliness pellets just in case a distraction was needed.

“OH! SORRY! I WAS TOLD THERE WOULD BE OODLES OF SPAGHETTI BUT I DON’T SEE OODLES OR SPAGHETTI ANYWHERE. OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT SOME...”

A couple of them looked ready to speak up, but Sans did first. “that’s right paps. you weren’t feeling well...are you sure you don’t want to go back home? the offer still stands...” 

Flowey snorted internally. Papyrus had an opportunity to not come, but he did anyway where he would be stuck with Gaster? Why was that?

{Yes, Papyrus. I thank you for being a responsible son and coming with me for this gala, but if you are unwell...} Gaster looked a little too pointed, as if there was a command in there.

Papyrus looked conflicted. As if he had wanted to do something in the first place, but in doing it he would do something he didn’t want to do it at all. It was subtle, but Flowey wondered if even the others would catch on, with them all staring at him like a robin at a worm hole.

“I AM VERY SORRY TO DEPRIVE YOU ALL OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS’ COMPANY. IF YOU WILL EXCUSE ME...” He pulled himself out of the chair, and with minimal shakiness, left the home. Frisk glanced worriedly at Papyrus and then Flowey, and quickly gestured to Mom to look under the table.

[I think F-mischief is worried about P-spaghetti. He should be able to go check on him, right?]

Flowey intentionally turned his attention to the door. A couple of months ago, he had become...concerned...about Frisk’s health after a bad flu. It had reminded him too much of Chara, and after the...um...incident, they both knew to allow Flowey to check on sick friends, as long as he had their permission.

“Flowey, would you like to check up on Papyrus? He should be alright, but if it makes you feel better.”

“What? Toriel, I’m not a baby!”

She chuckled, knowing that was his way of giving consent. “Very well, here is the pocket watch and I want to see you back in thirty minutes. If Papyrus wants to be alone, let him though. He looked as if he needed rest.”  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Papyrus gulped in air rhythmically. That had taken so much of his energy. He was a grown man, but he still had to listen to orders. Would Gaster do it? Would he do what he said if he didn’t listen? He sniffled slightly as he was reminded of that Ella Enchanted movie Frisk and him watched several times. He had no agency, no control. There was a freedom that even resets provided that he now knew was gone.

“Howdy!”

That hadn’t taken long. Papyrus knew this was coming. After all, no one forgot when Flowey went around screaming that Frisk was dying after the child had gotten the flu and had gone slightly delirious from fever.

“I’M NOT SICK FLOWEY, IT WAS JUST AN EXCUSE I USED.” Papyrus smiled disarmingly. The child had questions. He knew it.

“What was all that about? Like, he just ordered you to do something! Why did you take it? It’s not like you’re in the army or something! You aren’t a silly kid!” It took a moment to process what his best friend had said. He could speak at rapid fire speeds some days.

“FLOWEY, EVEN ADULTS LISTEN TO ORDERS SOMETIMES. AUTHORITY DOESN’T STOP EXISTING WHEN YOU BECOME AGE OF MAJORITY.” Papyrus chuckled, but Flowey didn’t find it amusing.

“He bossed you around! He tried to make it sound like he was being nice but he bossed you around? What was with that guy?”

“WELL, FLOWEY, SOMETIMES THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES-”

“What. What consequences did he promise you?”

Papyrus darkened. That was not something he would discuss. He could already feel the pinpricks in his arm.

“THAT ISN’T ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS.” 

“But Papyrus, he-”

“That isn’t any of your business.” His eyelights flared. He was not in any mood to get into this today. Or ever. He just wanted to sleep this day away. Yes, his friend meant well but...

Flowey quivered, and something hard set on his face. It wasn’t directed at Papyrus, but he was a little worried about it all the same.  
“Fine. I don’t need to know. I am pretty good at guessing anyway.”

His friend went into the dirt and travelled back to the house. Papyrus felt regret crawling up his back.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flowey was soulless, but he knew exactly how anger felt. It was like fire, but instead of the kind that you roasted marshmallows over, it was the kind that set entire cities ablaze. However, no matter how furious the plant was, this was too risky to respond to. There were three very specific reasons why killing Gaster at this present moment was a very bad idea.

1.Killing the guest of honour in front of everyone Flowey knew, while might make for a very interesting story, was a dumb decision.

2.No one seemed to realize Gaster was a bad guy, and while they had opened up to him, they won’t believe him.

3.Smiley Trashbag was tied at the hip of Gaster, and would guarantee Flowey a bad time if he stepped a petal out of line.

Especially number three. All had vacated to the living room, and like a child, or perhaps a cat, Sans was resting against his garbage father.

“So, Gaster, do you pick up your son too?” Alphys snickered after putting her camera away. Undyne chortled beside her, despite resting her head on top of Alphys’ head.

{No, I believe he can walk on his own. He has always been like this.}

Mom chuckled. “It’s adorable until your foot falls asleep.”

Dad looked away awkwardly. It wasn’t like he had wanted to get back together with Mom after all this time-much to Flowey’s dismay-but hearing about your ex and their new lover must be odd.

“oh hush. i’m making up for a five year deficit of dad hugs.” Weird. Why did grown ups act like children and the reverse. Flowey was way too mature for any of that nonsense.

There was a deep chuckle that stood out from the others, a voice like milk and honey. Flowey visualized the man in the black suit as the hypnotist snake from The Jungle Book that he had watched with Frisk last night. He was a silvertongue but Flowey wouldn’t be fooled. A silvertongue never fooled a liar. Ever.

Monsters were far too nice. So easily to walk over them all. He wondered quietly if Gaster was like him: soulless. That would explain why he acted like this. After all, why would a monster with a soul be cruel? If only he could try to summon it. Except, if he was wrong, then everyone would know something as up at the appearance of Gaster’s soul. He could find out when he killed him. There were a lot of things he could find out when he killed him. Maybe he could torture him too, get information from him. Find out what he had done to Papyrus, and maybe even work out some of his aggression at science in general. Frisk might even be happy about it: Flowey wouldn’t succumb to the urge to throw friendliness pellets at the teacher’s things when she got too animated about science and Alphys wouldn’t have to die to do it.

The more he thought about it, the more he anticipated murdering him. It would be a good fight. After all, the father of the skeleton brothers couldn’t be any less of a good fighter or enigma. It took all the energy he had not to allow his face to grace the wicked grin he carried mentally.

Gaster was going to die, Papyrus would be happy again, and Flowey would have a very good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Sans' affection towards his Dad makes you a little uncomfortable, I am just going to give a quick explanation. This is not Fontcest or some Oedipius complex, this affectionate behaviour is based off how my dad and I act, except amplified by Gaster coming back from the void and distorted by dramatic irony.


	5. Flowey Makes A Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXv2hWgfSPU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I feel like I owe you a quick explanation. So a lot of you are quite worried about the shock collar idea. Well, it's much more humane than it sounds. The flowerpot has always seemed so constricting to me, and the shock collar isn't much of a zap if at all. Flowey cannot be trusted (either not knowing safety on the surface/mischief) with full range to go anywhere he wants, but had earned some privileges. My friends got a shock collar for their dog, and it didn't really zap at all, but it allowed the dog to go various places. Paps is the abuse victim, not Flowey in this fic.

The Great Papyrus shouldn’t have been hiding in bed, but here he was. What would Gaster think? Would he be mad? Yes he listened to all his orders, but he made a scene! He slipped up! Would that count?

“bro, are you in here?” It was Sans.

With practised ease, he slipped on a mask. Not too happy, but certainly not scared. His brother’s happiness was the most important after all, even with his own lapse of judgement.

“WELL WHERE ELSE WOULD I BE BROTHER, SINCE SPAGHETTI PARADISE IS NOT AN OPTION?”

“wasn’t that rude? a-salt-ed, by my own brother, i’m so hurt right now.” The voice was gentle, but still contained that awful sense of humour. He groaned loudly.

The door opened, and Sans walked in with not one but two books to read. Papyrus smiled. Sans had obviously been worried about him. It was good to see that Sans still cared for him, even after all of this.

“ah well, you’re still the best bro in the world.”

“YOU’RE RIGHT BUT LET’S NOT FORGET THAT TITLE IS A TIE-YOU’RE TIED WITH ME AFTER ALL!”

“well, the jury is still deciding on that one.”

Not this again. He knew the quick fix though. “RIIING RIING” He mimicked the phone, and then mimicked picking it up with his fingers, and put it to where his ear hole was. “HM? YES? OH EXCELLENT!” Putting his fingers down, he turned to Sans. “WELL, AS MY DUTY AS JURY-DECIDED CO BEST BROTHER, I WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT IT IS OFFICIALLY A TIE!”

Sans laughed, even snorting a couple of times. Papyrus liked happy sounds, he really did. Especially from depressed people.

“i love you bro.”

“I LOVE YOU TOO SANS.”

“how are you feeling?”

“LIKE SOMEONE THREW A BRICK AT MY HEAD. THAT WAS VERY MEAN, WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT?” He didn’t want to worry his brother, but his brother was expecting to hear some reason why he had gone home early, and this was the lesser of the two evils.

“ow...been there, done that. here, let me just get you some medicine and a cinammon bunny. i’d make you some spaghetti, but let’s be honest here you do it the best.”

“LET’S BE HONEST HERE, YOU’RE JUST A LAZYBONES.” There was no fire behind it however and Sans chuckled as he put the Fluffy Bunny books beside his bed table.

“you got me again paps.” He smiled as he walked out the door. “oh hey dad! coming in to check on papyrus?” Of course this had to happen.

{Of course. My son is ill, why wouldn’t I?} The voice was gentle, but Papyrus knew just how fake that was. As no one could see him for the moment, he allowed himself the childish notion of hiding under his blanket. He wished the race car bed was real, so he could drive away at lightening speed.

“i’ll leave you two alone then. i can’t steal away all your time together.” Please don’t leave. Please don’t leave...

{Don’t worry about that, but some one on one time would be appreciated.}

Crap.

{Greetings Papyrus.} He didn’t see his face, but quite frankly he didn’t want to. The door closed, and from how soundproofed his room was, he knew the gloves were off.

“GREETINGS DAD, SORRY THAT I WASN’T FEELING WELL, HOW DID THE-”

{Do not give me that. You were instructed to come with me and be on your best appearance. You lapsed in your appearance. People thought something was wrong with you. I could forgive the slightest slip, but everyone was there. Everyone. Do I need to give you a repeat lesson in appearances?} The voice was smooth, like the yeoman’s sword that was brought in to cut the head of Anne Boleyn. Like her, this would be for a crime that wasn’t even one.

“I-I’M SORRY...” his voice was small, like a mouse in front of the fearsome cat. Gaster would play the same with him too.

{I should begin again, subject, but the night is long. You must be grateful that I am a generous man and am weary. I shall...spare you...but if anything goes wrong again, rest assured that I will begin once more. After all, you are a grown up now. You understand your actions have consequences.}

“T-THANK YOU FOR YOUR MERCY...” His voice cracked slightly, daring to look from the top of his blankets.

{No. Thank you, for your understanding.} The smile was patient, and could even be perceived as amiable. {Now, I have calculated that your brother shall be returning to give you the medicine. Act natural or else.}

“MTT HAS RELEASED SO MANY SHOWS RECENTLY, AND THEY HAVE GOTTEN SO MUCH BETTER SINCE REACHING THE SURFACE! THE SHOWS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AMAZING BUT-”

“so, talking about your crush are we. not that i blame you, the leg bot has always filled your heart with static attract-ivity.”

Sans. Why? What if Gaster tried to use that against him? Some people didn’t respond well to that sort of thing? Papyrus threw a pillow at him to make himself feel better.

{No need to be flustered, child, I always enjoyed being served by the Snowdin bartender.} There was a bit of a sly smile, and Papyrus subtly let out the breath he had been holding. If Gaster was going that against him, then Gaster would not make himself appear he was the same way, though perhaps he was telling the truth...he had to do that some times, didn’t he? Still, he was going to have a chat with his brother about who he made that joke with-most monsters were accepting, but not everyone was.

“I WASN’T WORRIED ABOUT THAT. DID YOU HEAR THAT HORRENDOUS PUN? THAT WAS WORSE THAN EVEN SANS’ BAD PUNS! THE WORST OF THE WORSE” He screeched in character. If that is what he had to be, that is what he had to be.

He clutched his head. Whoa, that stung a bit. He hoped he wasn’t getting sick for real. Sans walked quickly in the “I’m trying to be casual but I have just hit full Mom Mode (TM)” manner, with medicine in hand.

“make sure to take two. brought you some water and some of tori’s butterscotch-cinammon pie. it’s no spaghetti, but maybe it’ll suffice. makes me feel better...” he shrugged. Yep, it was definitely casual (totally not casual) Mom Mode. He didn’t like everything that came out of it, but right now he appreciated it.

If only Gaster had a Dad Mode for him too.

“THANK YOU BROTHER, YOU ARE THE BEST! NOW, IF THE TWO OF YOU COULD PLEASE HEAD OUT? I NEED MY FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP AND HONESTLY, I WOULD HATE EITHER OF YOU TO GET SICK.” He cared too much about Sans, and Gaster was wretched enough healthy. Not that he was sick anyway.  
________________________________________________________________________________________

You couldn’t do these things without humming the Mission Impossible theme. How many more resets would have been more interesting if he had just hummed the Mission Impossible theme before murdering someone?  
Flowey smiled manically underground, ignoring the slight tang of surface soil that went in his mouth. It’s show time.

Gaster sat next to the planted echo flowers in the garden. Perfect, because unlike Asgore’s echo flowers, Papyrus’s were much less sacred, only meant to capture temporary moments.

Or this.

He snuck up behind them with catlike prowess and began to whisper.

“Hello naughty scientist its murder time.”

Gaster turned to the flowers with a little less alarm then he would have liked, but no matter. He knew how to terrify people. With the most wicked snarl he could manage, vines sprouted from the ground like demons emerging from Hell, soon reaching the sky. 

{And just who would you be?} He sounded bored. Bored. Well, he would change that soon.

With quick access to his legs, he shot two vines out at lightening speed, dragging the scientist towards him. When close enough, he leaned over his face.

”Howdy.”

Swinging him over his head, he threw him against a tree. Again. Again. Again. Satisfying cracks filled the air. Flowey could see the dust in his mind, waiting for it to pour like snow. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? In class they said that snow helped the land. Gaster didn’t seem good to anyone alive, so perhaps he would be good after death.

Or not. It didn’t matter at all to him. He hurt Papyrus, and that was enough for him. Every gasp, every crack...it would be worth it.

He wondered how he looked now. Was his face locked into an internal scream? Would his sins be crawling on his back? Flowey couldn’t wait.

His face was passive, as if someone had told a poor joke. Flowey almost choked from the apathy. What? Could he have fallen down? Was that it? This wasn’t fair. He began to see red, and he couldn’t tell if it was literal or figurative.

“You hurt Papyrus! You need to suffer!” He screeched. Friendliness pellets circled Gaster...and then were gone. What?

His vines moved to choke Gaster...except that’s not what he was doing...

Now Gaster seemed in distress. He hadn’t been before, but this violet magic seemed to be doing something to him. Had someone else figured it out? Could someone else be on their side? Could it be...Chara? Chara wasn’t a magical user, but perhaps they could control things from the after life, and they were the smartest sibling ever, and there were faint memories of a time after their plan failed with them together! Flowey’s grin grew and grew. 

“We’re going to defeat you! Prepare to be fertilizer, freak!”

The panicked visage disappeared, and transferred onto Flowey. His was sly and omniscient. How many times had Flowey pulled the exact same one?

{I thank you for revealing your source to me. I shall be sure to rectify. But for now.}

The violet magic returned, and his vines wrapped around Gaster’s neck. Flowey tried to flee, dread kicking in when he realized what was happening.

“How dare you!” He tried to scream, but his mouth was quickly zipped shut at the word dare. Gaster looked just as distressed as Flowey, but only one’s panic was genuine.

{Sans! Help me! Please!} No no no no no.…this wasn’t good! No! He looked in the window at the wrong time. A single blue light shone from the window and it didn’t take long before...

“Y o u l o o k i n g f o r a b a d t i m e ?”

A Gaster Blaster severed his vines from Gaster. Flowey screamed. He wanted to run, he wanted to flee...collect his losses, find another way to kill Gaster for Papyrus...everything hurt, everything hurt so much. Yes they could regrow but...

He hated Smiley Trashbag.

The violet magic rescinded and Flowey tried to run, only to find himself surrounded in blue bones, barely touching his roots. He wasn’t going anywhere.

“dad! are you okay?” Flowey made a face once he turned his face away from the two. Pathetic. He was probably just fine.

{I am fine son, nothing a cinammon...bunny...} Something fell hard.

Flowey turned around to see Gaster sprawled on the ground. Could he have made him fall down? Would.…no...he was faking. He really hated this guy. How Papyrus hadn’t ended up like one of these trash bags was beyond him.

“dad!” Sans’ shrieked. Flowey made the mistake of looking up to see several bones falling towards him. Quickly ducking, he prepared for the onslaught. As bone after bone fell, he was more than eternally grateful that they only took one damage. After the twelfth, it finally stopped.

“papyrus! please get down here!” Sans screamed up at Papyrus’ window. It only took a couple of minutes to for the better skeleton to run downstairs, albeit in slippers and pajamas.

“WHAT IS THE MA-OH MY GOD!” Papyrus cursed taking a moment to look around at everything.

“grab him by the legs! i got his arms, carry him to the couch!” It took some work, and on Papyrus’ face, he noticed a storm of emotions, unable to tell what exactly he was thinking.

It took them around five minutes to bring the elder skeleton into the living room and to come back outside to look at Flowey. He would have been scared, but Papyrus would help him from his brother. As they walked out he caught their conversation.

“that little freak is the one who tried to kill dad! for no bloody good reason!”

“I UNDERSTAND. BUT SOMEONE HAS TO GET HIM HOME. I KNOW YOU DON’T LIKE HIM-”

“like him? paps! if it was up to me, he’d be dead!” Oh no.

“I DON’T REMEMBER YOU GETTING THIS ANGRY HE STOLE ALL OUR SOULS.”

“pap! he just tried to murder our dad! our dad! we just got him back! we just...” Sans roughly scrubbed at his sockets and Flowey rolled his eyes several times in a row. What was he getting so upset for?

Papyrus knelt down in front of Sans. “I’M UPSET TOO. VERY UPSET.” There was a tone in the second fragment that made Flowey jolt. “BUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO TAKE HIM HOME. WHY DON’T YOU KEEP AN EYE ON DAD? HE WON’T ATTACK ME, AND TORIEL WON’T KILL YOU FOR MURDERING ONE OF HER CHARGES.” The last bit was said with a chuckle which both shared weakly. Both walked back inside, and this time only Papyrus came out with a small shovel and a mixing bowl. Without a word, he got to work, replanting Flowey in the mixing bowl. Flowey had a lot he wanted to say, but he didn’t know where to start.

“WE ARE GOING TO OUR CORNER. NOW.” The eyelights were back, and Flowey shrunk into the mixing bowl. After tonight, skeletons were a little scary.  
__________________________________________________________________________

Papyrus wanted to scream. He really, really did. Less than an hour after being threatened by Gaster, this had to happen. Flowey had to go and do this. Why didn’t Papyrus see it coming? He had to keep calm. He had to.  
“FLOWEY, WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING?”

“He’s a bad guy! He needed to die! I even observed him!”

“FLOWEY, I TOLD YOU NOT TO.”

Flowey’s voice grew agitated. “You were going to tell me to! Sure you told me no, because you are a good person but you wanted him dead! That’s why you came to find me that day!”

So did Papyrus’s. “MONSTERS CAN CHANGE THEIR MIND! LOOK! THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE! YOU’RE GOING TO BE STUCK IN A FLOWERPOT AND I-” His voice choked.

“...going to what?” Flowey eyed his suspiciously.

“AM PRACTICALLY GOING TO BE HIS SLAVE UNTIL HE RECOVERS! THAT IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH TIME I HAVE TO SPEND WITH HIM!” He almost added ‘truely unfitting to the Great Papyrus’, but best not to when he was lying.

Flowey cringed, and Papyrus just shook his head.

“LET’S JUST TAKE YOU HOME. I AM TOO MAD TO TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW, OKAY?”

He heard the smallest sounding “ok” he had ever heard in his life, but he was not going to give it a moment’s notice right now.  
_____________________________________________________________________________

Toriel was pissed. Papyrus was pissed. Now, Frisk was pissed too. This day just kept getting better and better. Not only would he be confined to the pot, but his number of friends was growing smaller and smaller.

[Flowey! You tried to kill someone? You were doing so good! If you had succeeded, I would have had to reset again! I made a promise not to!]

“Gaster is a bad guy! He’s someone who should be dead! Besides, he wasn’t back for long!”

[How do you know Gaster is a bad guy?]

“Because...! Because...!” How could he tell them without giving away Papyrus’s secrets?

[Because of some super-secret reason which probably means you don’t know? Flowey, I really thought you could do better. I thought I could make friends with you, but really...you are such a jerk!] Frisk looked like they wanted to yell, but they got their point across.

“Hey! You don’t know why I did that! I had a perfectly good reason! Sure...I can’t tell you what it was, but it is a perfectly good reason to kill that-”

[I don’t know why I bothered with you. I don’t want to be your friend anymore.You aren’t Asriel, you’re just his soulless husk.] Flowey stopped. Eyes widened, and decided quickly that having his vines blown off hurt far less than this. His vision blurred and his teeth hurt from gritting them so hard.

“How dare you! Frisk! I hate you! I didn’t even want you to be my friend!”

[Well, I hate you F-jerk!] Frisk scowled just as hard back.

Both were quiet for a while, looking at anything but each other.

“Put me by the window. Now.”

[You can’t tell me what to do! Not after what you pulled last night!]

He pulled the scariest grin he could think of at the moment. “Well, I’m on your bedside table, so if you want to be so close to me, go ahead.”

It took record time for Frisk to bring Flowey to the window, and a wry smile smeared his features as he stared at the stars. They weren’t so nice tonight. The lights flicked off eventually as Frisk went to bed, and when the small snores filled the air, the smile dropped like lead.

There was a quiet sniffle. It took Flowey a moment to realize it came from him. Closing his petals, he used them to wipe his face, but as the sniffle turned into a sob he realized he didn’t care. Who cared about him anymore? He lost his two friends in one stupid night! Papyrus was too mad to talk to him, and Papyrus never got that mad at him, and Frisk didn’t want to be his friend anymore! Well jokes on you Frisk! Asriel as Frisk wanted was never coming back.

He laughed, but it didn’t sound right, like weeping.

“Chara.…I screwed up really bad.”  
______________________________________________________________________________

It took a woefully short time for Gaster to be back on his feet. Papyrus wondered just how hurt Gaster had been. Sans just thought it was some kind of miracle. He’d probably need to talk to Flowey soon though. Not immediately, but soon. The kid was probably grounded for...a year or so at least.

Right now, Papyrus had other things to worry about. He fidgeted as he sat on the couch, them alone now. Sans had stayed for a long time, several hours even until he had to told to go to bed before he collapsed himself. It was exhausting when someone you loved was hurt.

Not that Papyrus had felt that during that time.  
{I am not going to mince words. The flower knew, and I know you told him. The group discussed how close the two of you were.}

Papyrus gulped. “I DIDN’T TELL. HE’S VERY YOUNG, BUT HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY PERCEPTIVE.”

{He said I hurt you. I have been merciful. We have not been testing since my accident. You told him. Papyrus, I was kind to you. You are a grown man, and I let you make your own decisions. Less than seven hours ago, I told you if you stepped out of line, I would start again.}

Papyrus whimpered.

{Well, I always knew you wouldn’t amount to much, forgettable son. At least you will be a benefit to medical science. Tomorrow night, you will come with me to the True Lab and we will begin again. Oh, and if you think you can take your own life to escape me? You will become an amalgamate or worse.}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ew fight scenes. Still, what did you think of it? This is the Shakespearian climax/catalyst. While not the official climax, it will link directly to what happens in the next chapters.


	6. Anomalies in the Twilight Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange and terrible things occur the earliest hours of the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT: This chapter contains a graphic sequence regarding experimentation. When Gaster teleports Papyrus to the dotted line, or when it changes to Sans' POV, is a fairly nasty sequence. No blood and guts, but still on the mature side.

Chara was always notorious for getting bored, and the afterlife had done little to entertain them. They’d hang with Asriel, but they could only take small doses of him before it got depressing. Most of their time was spent with Frisk, watching that the kid for trouble. Frisk had sold their soul to them after that first run, and while they completed others, it was when they tried to run away after a pacifist run that they finally learned their lesson. Despite what others thought, Chara didn’t honestly enjoy killing. However, there was nothing worse than being the survivor, and if they had to be the Angel of Death, then they would be a thorough one.

Gosh...they got so depressing, hadn’t they?

Night time was the worst. Everyone was asleep, even the tall perky skeleton. What was his name...well, he was always forgettable. He just stood there, called them a weirdo and then let himself get decapitated. If it was suicide by mad child, Chara understood, but it wasn’t anything they would lose sleep over …if they could sleep.

He was Asriel’s (second) best friend, guess that was good enough.

“Chara...I screwed up bad...”

Asriel? He didn’t sound good at all. It didn’t take any time at all to reach the window where he sat. His brother looked miserable, and there would be hell to pay for whoever had hurt him like this. Chara could tell from his stats that he had been injured-his retractable vines, but his heart was hurt the worse. Big fat tears flowed down his cheeks that Chara could almost see the button snout and the floppy ears. Chara didn’t say anything though, but wrapped their arms around their brother, pretending he could notice.

“There...was a really bad guy...worse than me. He’s been hurting Papyrus, and I tried to...kill him for it...but I just made everything worse!”

Precious Asriel, always getting himself mixed up in things he didn’t fully understand.

“Frisk doesn’t want to be my friend, Papyrus is too nice but I know he doesn’t want anything to do with me...Frisk said they should have never wanted to be my friend in the first place! A-and I don’t know what G-Gaster will do now that he is still alive!” Asriel sobbed.

It occurred to them that his HP had fallen. Not the base points, thank goodness, but someone had hurt him. That, however.…

As if Asriel had sensed Chara’s growing anger, his own anger grew. “It’s so dumb, but I actually want Smiley Trashbag to smarten up for once! Why can’t people catch on to what is going on under their nose?” Chara couldn’t count how many times they had had that sentiment. Still, there was something...wrong...here. Something that seemed nauseatingly familiar.

“How do you not notice your own dad is beating your brother! Leave it to the guy who waited until I murdered everyone to step in to be this much of an idiot!”

Chara had to quickly pull away from Asriel. They knew in the back of their mind that they couldn’t have hurt Asriel in this state, but their hands gripped the air as if someone’s neck was firmly in their grasp. Images of their human mother rushed Chara and chaotic fury was their output. Nothing was thrown, but Chara sure did try. If they had their way, the lamp and computer would have been in pieces on the floor, but they remained undisturbed.

How dare this human filth taint this precious race of monsters? Beating your own child? Monsters were made of love and kindness! This Gaster was a pathogen! A virus! A pandemic in the making! The black death in walking form!

Dirty. Humanoid. Freak!

Chara didn’t like Sans, but he could be awfully protective of that brother, or at the very least, he certainly could reap vengeance. Knowing the large about they knew about their brother and the little they knew about his friend, there was no way that either had actually thought to tell Sans about what happened.

Well, there was no time like the present.  
____________________________________________________________________________________

It was a lot easier to get into someone’s head then most would realize. Dreams were the gateway to communication. Chara noted that this situation though, was entirely their fault.

It was the Judgement Hall, they were covered in dust with a glistening knife in their hands. Of course this had to be the time and the place to try to tell Sans that his father was an abusive piece of garbage. Chara had always considered themselves an opportunist though.

“take one step forward kid, and you are not going to like what happens next.” Sans hissed. That was normal. Now it was time to deviate from the script. Instead of taking a step forward, they took their knife and threw it behind them, tried to dust their shirt off and took one step backwards.

“Not this time. I understand repetitive dreams, but this isn’t one. We need to talk.”

Sans looked stunned for just one satisfying moment, but then chuckled wryly.

“why should i listen to you, D I R T Y B R O T H E R K I L L E R?” His eyes blackened, but Chara quite frankly couldn’t care at the moment.  
“As irony would have it, I am here about your brother. As I do not want to waste time, let me be brief: Gaster is hurting Papyrus.”

Sans shook his head. “kid, i know not every joke can be a winner, but that was the worst one i have ever heard. dad would never do anything like that. Also, why are you of all people telling me that?”

“I am sure you are aware of what happened tonight?”

He cringed, but it wasn’t the type that Chara wanted. “you working with petals? is he the brawn while you are the brains? he straight up tries to murder my own dad while you try to convince me he is a bad person?”

Chara pinched the bridge of their nose. Everything about this skeleton drove Chara up the wall. “Flowey and I are not working together to frame your father. If you want to hear a conspiracy theory, you can just use the internet.”

“cute. did you write that comeback? listen kid, my dad just came back from, you know, the dead-like he was the only person who i knew that was dead that i actually wanted back, unlike you, and someone did just try to kill him tonight, so let’s just say i am a little more...sensitive to some murdering brat trying to slander my dad. kapiche?”

“You won’t hear me out, even if your brother is at risk?”

“my brother isn’t at risk. dad is a good man, better than you ever would be. i’m not giving the details to you of all people, but my brother and i would not have survived to see adulthood without him, been dust on some street without him.”

On the street? Orphans perhaps? Well, that was interesting. Still didn’t excuse what Gaster was doing.

“Fine then. When your brother throws himself off a cliff, I’ll be nice and hold off my ‘I told you so.’”

Sans didn’t even give them a moment to leave the dream, but was forcefully shoved out by a multitude of blasters fired in their direction. Maybe they wouldn’t be that nice and hold off saying. For Asriel’s sake, they would just keep watch.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Papyrus woke with an overwhelming sense of dread that made him never want to wake up again. Not even two minutes into his day, and he found himself in tears with his teeth gnawing on his arm. It wasn’t too hard, just a simple bite as he knew from experience that it would be far worse after...well, later.

It was the thought, that maybe today it would turn out that Gaster had died peacefully in his sleep that was the only thing that got him out of bed. Not that the chances were high at all, but a 0.0000001% was still worth it, right?

Wiping away his tears, he rubbed them away, and opened his door to see Gaster sitting in the living room. As if someone had thrown iron in his boots, his steps became methodical and he gripped on every wall as to avoid running away screaming.

{I have been waiting for you. Let’s get going now, since Sans will not be awake until another five hours, and perhaps you will have remaining energy for your work at 9.}

He wanted to say no. He wanted to tell him where he should be shoving up this idea. But all he said was “THAT SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCELLENT IDEA.”

Gaster smiled, and Papyrus shivered. {We will take the shortcut. The latest scientist turned our lab room into a storage facility, but I was cleaning up for this moment.}

He felt sick, but just smiled. “I’M SO GLAD YOU PLANNED AHEAD, SIR.”

“As long as that was the reference to me being knighted by the king versus a reference to the common man, I shall accept it.”

“WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE?”

A cold, holed hand grabbed his arm and he fought off the instinct to fight it off, and allowed the purple magic to transport them to...there.

His breath seized. It looked the exact same as in his nightmares. It sounded the exact same...it even smelt the exact same.

{If you are going to have a panic attack, please lie down on the table. I do not want my property damaged. Strip down to the bare minimum of clothing so I have more surface area to work with.} The closest Papyrus had ever received to concern. The Great Papyrus, property and intellectual rights belonging to Dr. Gaster. What else was new? Still, he listened. What else could he do?

It was harder to breathe lying down and his bare chest froze against the metal, but that wasn’t what mattered at the moment.

Gaster took his arm and inserted the plug into his arm. The slot was worn from four years of disuse-not to mention all the times he had tried to remove it-but it still functioned. His statistics popped up on the machine. He then grabbed a vial and a syringe followed by a towel. Without prompt, Papyrus opened his mouth and the towel went inside. Putting the dreaded objects aside, Gaster strapped him to the guerney and...stuck...electrical anodes over his chest?

Finally, he grabbed his tape recorder, the sign that all Hell was about to begin. {Entry Number 18, Dr. Wingdings Gaster, after studying the effects of artificial electricity want to discover the effects on the magic and soul of a monster combined with the human element of determination, to see if combining all three energy forms makes a drastic outcome on the soul.} The recording clicked off, and Papyrus clenched his eyes shut tightly.

There was a slight sound, like a humming, followed by the penetration of the needle into his shoulder and then.…

Pain pain pain pain kill me now oh god oh god oh god help me help me help me help me!

He thrashed on the table, feeling splintering cracks throughout his bones. He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his muffled screams. Tears poured out his eyes as he tried not to choke in his own vomit that seeped between the towel and his teeth. His skull was bashed against the table over and over and over.

And then...it was over. Gaster undid the equipment as Papyrus lay sprawled on the table. When he blinked away the goop from his eyes, he found a stale uncycle left on his chest, which once his arms functioned, he devoured. Now finding the strength to get off the table as was expected of him, he launched himself towards the wall so he could lean off it. Gaster was finishing off his recording, but words were beyond Papyrus. Everything hurt so bad.

His face was suddenly filled with Gaster’s. {Sans will not know a moment of this, understood?}

He understood. When had he not?  
________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite that weird dream, Sans had a good night of sleep, though waking up to the smell of spaghetti helped. Must have been extra spiced. Awesome.

He trudged out of his room. It may have been a good morning, but it was still a morning.

“GOOD MORNING, LAZYBONES! I PUT YOUR COFFEE ON THE TABLE. I STILL DON’T GET WHY YOU DON’T JUST POUR THE ENTIRE SUGAR CONTAINER INTO THAT CUP.” His brother grinned despite the lecture, looking away for a moment from his pot, while Gaster looked up from his coffee and newspaper.

It wasn’t too early for a pun however.

“you made my coffee for me? man, you are such a sweet brother!”

“I MAKE YOU FOOD AND COFFEE AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET? A PUN! THE COMPLIMENT IS APPRECIATED, BUT THAT WAS MOST DEFINETLY A PUN!” Dad chuckled at the statement and Sans laughed.

“i love you too bro.”

“I LOVE YOU TOO BROTHER, EVEN FOR ALL YOUR PUN SHENANIGANS.”

As he looked on to the scene, Sans grinned for real. The three of them as a family? It was perfect.

He would do anything to protect it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to extend a thank you to my father for not only being incomparably good compared to Gaster in this fic, but also giving me the idea of bringing Chara into it (Is there some kind of ghost that could be able to find out what is going on? is what he said to prompt me) and indirectly responsible for whatever roles Chara will play in this fic.
> 
> This story may be changing to a Mature rating, because this will not be the last time Gaster does his work.


	7. The Side Effects of Being A Toy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter that brought this fic to M. Papyrus begins to see some of the effects of the experiments while trying to live his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I have actually planned this fic to last 11 chapters, so I can guarantee the end is coming soon! Trigger warning: limb removal, as well as the usual. Message me if you want to know what happens in this chapter.

Papyrus found how easily he had fallen into routine over the past month disturbing. Wake up, be experimented on, make breakfast for everyone, go to work, hang out with a random friend to keep appearances, hang out with his brother and Gaster, have Gaster do a follow up on the morning’s experiment and go to sleep. Flowey, unfortunately was not an option with his informal house arrest by Toriel and Sans’ insistence that Flowey posed a threat to him, no doubt spurred on by Gaster. If there wasn’t the risk of that, Papyrus would have visited anyway. Flowey could be very thick...well...stemmed, so he really hoped his friend would understand despite their cross parting words. It probably would take a couple of months for Toriel to allow Flowey guests, and then they would be able to see each other again, because it would look suspicious if he didn’t. There were some benefits to having Gaster be so socially aware.

Right now, he was off to visit his bestie, because that was normal. Not that he didn’t absolutely 100% want to see Undyne, but that experiment hurt, and these days he was more than grateful that training consisted mainly of cooking. He wasn’t sure how well he could handle actual battle training. He had nearly been sick with pain when Undyne had suplexed him onto her kitchen table. Thankfully, melodrama saved the day and his agonized groans turned into play and she didn’t suspect anything different, and he sighed in relief as she tried to mimic the green giant with the supervillain in those Marvel movies she liked. Hitting the floor multiple times hurt just as much, but Undyne had always come with a warning sign-no matter how it hurt, he could guarantee it came from a good place. Gaster on the other hand...

Well, he was a person that needed to try a lot harder to be good.

“Sup nerd!” 

“I DO NOT KNOW WHAT’S ‘SUP BUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS DOING FANTASTIC!” He grinned widely, a little less harder than it was with others.

She noogied him, and with his luck it was right where the needle had been jammed today.

“PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON.” Half joking, half begging. She did stop, but squeezed him in a hug that made his other injuries ache, but this he didn’t mind at all.

“You ready for some awesome cooking, punk?!” Sharp teeth glinted in the light as she dragged him into the house.

“YOU BET I AM!”

She quickly pulled out the spaghetti noodles from the oak case. Good, he needed something fancy tonight, he internally giggled. Of all their inside jokes, that one was his favourite. They had been watching a cooking show together and Mettaton had pulled out ingredients from these elaborately named places. So the natural thing to do was rename every single kitchen appliance and storage unit something ridiculously fancy. “Fine oak case” was his contribution and sure it was three years ago, but he still loved it.

The pot crashed loudly against the stove as she chucked the pasta in, cardboard and all. “Papyrus! Yank that thing sky high!”

He didn’t need to be told twice and threw the temperature higher than her poor stove could handle. 

“LET’S MAKE IT HOTTER!” He laughed in almost manic glee, and she cackled just as evilly.

“Let’s make Hell seem lukewarm!”

He stirred faster and faster as boiling water flicked everywhere. Not that he could feel it, and Undyne always said that pain made her stronger. The oven made a low whine as he pushed it even further. He was determined to make this as hot as he possibly could.

Wait...what?

The sounds of laser beams filled the air followed immediately by something massive being destroyed. A second later, there was no roof, and Papyrus felt...drained? No...stabilized.

Oh no. He was scared to turn around. From the corner of his eye, he saw Undyne staring at him in awe. There was nothing normal about this. Taking a breath to steel himself, he tentatively turned around and...oh...

There were no less than six massive Gaster blasters circled around him. In fact, two were between the wall and the sides of the home they were so big. He heard a camera click and saw the flash in his eyes. Undyne had pulled out her camera on her phone and...she was about to share it!

“UNDYNE STOP!”

She paused for a moment. “Why? Dude, you look so anime!”

He couldn’t let Gaster find out. “BECAUSE SANS! REMEMBER WHEN WE WENT DRUNK CANOEING? AND NEITHER OF REALIZED THAT I FELL OUT OF THE BOAT AND I WOKE UP EIGHT HOURS LATER ON THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER?”

Undyne laughed. “Oh man, that was hilarious...” She sobered up. “Except your brother lost his freaking mind when I got back.”

“EXACTLY. THIS MAY NOT BE DANGEROUS AT ALL, LIKE HOW SKELETONS CAN’T DROWN, BUT HE WILL STILL PANIC! IT’S BEST IF WE JUST WAIT FOR THIS TO DIE DOWN A BIT.”

“No problem. I’ll just say I was working on a new training move until he has some time to digest the explosion.” She waved it off, and put her phone away. The grin returned at full force, almost competing with Flowey’s mischevious ones.

He heard her rip something off the wall and soon enough she was back with a mirror that towered over her, and thumped it at his feet.

“Behold! Your new Super Saiyan form!”

He yelped. He was glowing. Orange energy flickered around him like fire. It wasn’t threatening, more like the glow of a campfire, but it still scared him. There was literally nothing normal about this at all. Breaks could be filled in with plaster, scars painted white, but nothing, absolutely nothing could be done about glowing. Crap.

“UMM...HOW DO I STOP GLOWING?” He tried weakly.

“Why would you want to?”

“BECAUSE...WELL THIS ISN’T NORMAL.”

“Pap, I mean this in the best way possible. You’re best friends with me, also the flower who tried to kill everyone, you play with dolls-”

“RARE COLLECTABLE ACTION FIGURES!” He would not be slandered.

She laughed, and he sensed an old argument coming. “Dude, there is like a million MTT booty bots out there.”

Nope, nope and nope. “OF VERSION SIX! BUT I HAVE A VERSION ONE, AND ONE OF THE FIRST THOUSAND PRODUCED OF VERSION ONE! WHICH IS SIGNED BY METTATON HIMSELF!”

“You know he uses a stamp right? Though honestly I would love to see you go up to him with that Booty Bot and get him to sign it.”

His face flushed furiously. “I CAN STILL DREAM.”

Undyne’s face lit up, as if she had just remembered his weakness. “Why don’t you just get some real booty bot?”

“HA! EVEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS KNOWS HIS LIMITS!”

“If I can get the Royal Scientist, then you can get the booty bot.”

The floor looked comfortable. Very comfortable in fact. He was just going to lie down on it now. Yep, nice, comfortable floor.

Grinning, she looked down at him. “See? You’re so much more fun than normal!”

He only groaned in response.

There was a knock on the door. Papyrus got up instantly. 

“Considering you don’t want to be associated with this right now, do you want to take the window out?”

She didn’t need to ask twice. He didn’t know who was at the door, but blowing up something on the surface was not something he want associated with him.

For subtlety and respect for Alphys, he quickly opened it and jumped out. When he looked at the door, it appeared just to be the human police. Probably with a search warrant again because this wasn’t the first time they got called in for ‘explosive noises.’ 

He snuck across the road and climbed through his bedroom window, collapsing on the bed. Papyrus snuck a look at the mirror and cringed deeply. He was still orange. He sunk his head into his hands. How on Earth would he be able to act natural? Things only ever got worse when he slipped, and, well, talk about a slip!

In a rare moment of frustration, he turned to his mirror, turning it blue and throwing it against the ground with his magic. He desperately wanted to throw it further, but he had to be natural. Mirrors could fall down and break. His magic responded to his frustration and the orange aura disappeared just like that. Perhaps the orange aura was simply an overload of magic. At least one thing could be solved.…

Agony struck instantly in his left foot and he bit his arm hard to prevent himself from screaming. It only took a moment for the bland marrow to reach his mouth, as he balanced breathing and not accidentally sucking the marrow out of his arm. He felt hot, acidic fluid in his shoe, and kicked his foot up and down on his bed in some desperation of getting his shoe off. With no coordination, his other arm was able to reach up and pull the sock off after the shoe flew out the window. He almost screamed once more from horror this time.

His toe was melting off. Was this the beginning of becoming an amalgamate? Was this what Gaster was doing to him? Could you turn a living person into an amalgamate? Was he about to find out first hand? He wept as he bit into his arm. What would the Great Papyrus do?

The Great Papyrus had scissors. Falling off his bed, he reached into the drawer on the end table and leaned over with the last of his strength. Goop was all over his hands, and he better be fast before he had to remove the entire foot. He put them in position to do the job, and then stomped on them with his good foot as hard as he could. Everything went black.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gaster was a pragmatic man, and he heard the glass fall. Papyrus had always been an emotional boy, and while threats against his being often kept him in line, he still stepped out. However, Gaster wouldn’t punish the boy for this misstep, because what he had seen would be enough. The loyalty, or perhaps fear this lab rat had shown that he would cut a limb off before daring to cross him had amused him. The house would be dealt with later, but for now his experiment was lying in his own vomit, melted remains and sprawled out on the floor. While leaving him there would be preferred, it would go against his son’s sensibilities to ignore him in this...crisis.

Rescuing Sans off the street had been worth killing the attackers. His son was a genius and Gaster cared for him deeply. He simply wished that Sans had been knocked unconscious in the attack he saved him from so that he would have plausible deniabilty for leaving the boy behind.

No matter. From his position where he had watched the events take place, he took Papyrus from his room and transported him to the lab, putting in an IV for a stabilizer. Returning back to his room, he left the mess and wrote his son a note:

‘Papyrus decided to take me to get dinner at this restaurant he found online in the next town. See you later tonight!’

The IV would not need that long. What Gaster wanted was the data. This was determination overload at its finest and must be dealt with immediately. Thankfully, he always healed quickly, and soon enough, Papyrus was awake when he arrived. Hardly in a regular state, but awake enough.

“GASTER...?” It was weak, and he could barely hear it, but it was still there.

{We are moving up your debriefing to now. What occurred...? I know about the house, as I know a Gaster blaster when I see one. Suitable consequences shall be arranged, but for now I want to know what happened.}

Papyrus cringed, but with an emotionless voice, spoke. “DOCTOR, SIR, I FOUND MYSELF GLOWING AFTER BECOMING STIMULATED BY A HIGH ENERGY ACTIVITY THAT I DO FREQUENTLY-COOKING WITH UNDYNE, AND BECAME ANGERED AT THE SIGHT AS I FEARED MY COVER WOULD BE BLOWN.” Gaster didn’t miss the fearful waiting as he made his notes. However, he ignored it. He would not give reassurances to a rat.

{Interesting. Now explain why you are covered in your own fluids.}

“I...I...” He started to shake, curling on himself and Gaster snapped his fingers, irritated. 

{If you want anyone to respect you, you cannot be emotional in the work environment. If I may remind you, you volunteered for the first experiment, and it is your own fault that you are here now.}

The experiment simply nodded and took a deep breath in. “WHEN I EXPELLED SOME OF MY MAGIC, MY GLOW DISAPPEARED AND THE FIFTH TOE ON MY LEFT FOOT MELTED OFF. I...REMOVED THE LIMB TO AVOID ANY MORE DAMAGE.”

With that, Gaster took his cue to examine the site of the missing object. There had been signs of melting, likely from some acidity. He would have to examine the determination to see where the acidity came from. He would have to be examined as well.

{Be up at the same time tomorrow. I would like to do some extensive work on the region. You have a mess to clean up, and I do not want you to upset my son’s sensitivities.}

For a split second, he appeared insulted for being split from Sans, but he kept his mouth shut. Good for him, as Gaster knew that would lead to punishment. Quickly, he teleported him to his room, and then went straight back to the lab. He had work to do.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The shower was not only a place for getting clean, but a place for thinking, and Papyrus was doing plenty of that. Why was it that Gaster could genuinely love Sans, and despise him? When Sans would go to the library to meet up with the old man he had made friends with, why couldn’t he have gone along to read physics books with them. How different would his life had been if he hadn’t stuck his tongue out on those days and babbled about icky math? How different would it be if he had tried to become more like an adult, more like Sans? Less dolls, trucks and toy swords, more science, language and math, would have he been loved? Would Gaster give him hugs on days where he felt like garbage? Would Gaster stay up all night watching all his favourite TV shows even if he didn’t like them at all? Would Gaster let him call him dad when others were not around? Would Gaster have been just as happy to save him as he was Sans when he tried to steal food from a gang to feed the two of them?

If Sans hadn’t gotten sick, would he have volunteered to be experimented on to find a cure for his brother? Even if he had, would Gaster have been willing to stop when Sans stabilized?

The first time the needles went in, he was proud of himself. He would no longer be the useless, unwanted child. He would be the one who would let his rising star of a brother be a star, not a pile of dust. Perhaps, he could even save other monsters with declining health. Now, he just hated himself even more. At least Sans recovered, but the experiments were eons past then. He wondered what Sans would do if he ever found out that some of the data he worked with came from him?

The water did wonders for the physical ills, but it couldn’t clean his thoughts away, but he used to know how to live with those, and he would learn once more.

 

Chara had sat in the bedroom for near two hours, staring in distant horror at the remnants of what had occurred. They were reminded sickly of when they fought Undyne on the genocide route. If Papyrus hadn’t taken such drastic measures, then he could have died. Chara had already hurt Asriel enough that this couldn’t be allowed. A plan had begun to form, they just hoped that she would listen.

Chara would be no simple observer anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The climax is coming...  
> =)


	8. Dreams Are Revealing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara tries one last plan. It goes places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It begins to converge, the climax is coming, and after, the end.

Chara knew a risk when they saw it, and entering someone else’s dream was most certainly a risk. Heck, even Frisk hadn’t believed them, despite all they had tried to advocate to them about it. Guess they were still bitter about the whole ‘soulless pacifist’ thing-which was revenge, by the way, revenge. Not to mention the fact that because Asriel had tried to kill Gaster didn’t help their case. As Frisk slept, Chara stared at them bitterly. “Trying to ruin your happy ending, my butt.” They rolled their eyes, and turned to view Asriel.

This month had not been easy for him at all. Chara understood why Papyrus couldn’t contact Asriel, but none of that had even reached him. Then again, if anyone had an inkling other than the Underground’s mass murderers, this wouldn’t have gone on as long. Asriel, though he tried to deny it, had always been insecure. When his parents had adopted other children, Asriel was convinced that he had been replaced, despite the fact that their love was unending, except for each other, but that was another tragedy for another day. It was no surprise with the obvious rejection of Frisk, that the same cancerous doubt had spread to his friendship with Papyrus. He still insisted sleeping by the window, which was mainly to try to catch a glimpse of the skeleton. Papyrus had hung out with Frisk, but hadn’t come over in a long time. Chara still couldn’t figure out how Toriel didn’t catch on how suspicious it was. Then again, she hadn’t needed a babysitter since Asriel’s...attempt. He wasn’t wilting yet, but he had been snappier with everyone, and some patterns carried over. Not that it helped that Frisk was unhappy as well. Toriel must be weary of stopping her living children from fighting. Only yesterday had Asriel tried to beat Frisk over the head with a remote control when two different kids shows were playing at a time. They had really hoped Papyrus would break his chains, but after what occurred yesterday, they knew that the only way to do that would have been similar to how they broke their own: jumping down a mountain, and that life saving barrier no longer existed. While Chara cared far more for Asriel, they could sympathize with Papyrus.

Dreams were tricky, but unlike the situation with Frisk, dreams was their only access into the mind. A monster’s mind was easier to infiltrate, but that didn’t make it easy. The only guaranteed success was when the individual was dreaming of the person that would enter. That is why Sans was so easy. Alphys would be a lot harder.

They kept their energy concentrated on watching if Alphys had fallen asleep, which was the first challenge. Who in their right mind was still awake at four in the morning? At this rate, Frisk would wake soon which would make Chara have to wait until they fell asleep again.

…she fell asleep. Chara grinned widely as they steeled themselves for entry.

What was with all these dreams about them? Really? Why did no one dream about the nice things they did? Like for example, setting these two up? It was the Undyne the Undying battle, and the camera was there. Alphys did watch the fights though when Undyne was destined to die...so maybe this wasn’t all bad. Well, except for the arrows.

Frisk was always the one to dodge, but here they were in their body. Chara appreciated attack over defense, and they were filled with regret.

Arrows came flying at all sides, and quickly using the spear granted to them in battle, they dodged each of the arrows. Or that is what they would have liked to say. It only took four and Chara decided instantly that getting stabbed with magic sucked, even if it was just in their dream.

“Alphys! I know you can hear me! You’re watching the camera right?”

“Why are you talking to Alphys, punk?” Undyne snarled. Chara gulped slightly. If they got killed in this dream, who knew when they would get another shot?

Better make it fast. “Papyrus is in danger! Go to the true lab between 6-8 AM and you will see!”

A microphone turned on. Chara blinked in surprise. They didn’t know the cameras had outside speakers. “F-Frisk doesn’t talk. Who are you?”

Dream lucidity? Yes! Everything was going so good, but would she actually listen?  
“My name is Chara, and one of your friends is in danger.” Were they friends...? “Or at least, a friend of a friend.”

“Talk.” The voice was curt and it surprised Chara for a moment, when they heard the faltered voice over the speaker. “S-sorry. I-I’m being rude...b-but you did just try to k-kill my girlfriend.”

Chara didn’t need to be asked twice. “So the tall skeleton, Papyrus...he is being used for determination experiments.”

“DT? B-but I-I stopped...” The voice panicked.

“It isn’t you. It is Dr. Gaster, Papyrus’ so called father. It was his lab before yours...I think.”

“C-chara, this is serious stuff...you c-can’t just accuse p-people of...that.” Her voice was less resolute. Keep it together Alphys.

“All you need to do is go to the lab between that time. That is all. I don’t need you to fight him...” How to phrase it. “All I need you to do is take photos of any wrong doing, if there is any. You’re literally dating a former guardsmen, you don’t have to get your hands dirty...and if someone had taken up that research again, you have a duty to stop it, right?”

“Okay.”

Chara let out a breath they didn’t even know they had been holding. Thank you Alphys! Hopefully she would remember her resolution when she awoke.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That was way to anime to ignore, Alphys decided the moment she woke up. That weird repeating dream shows, and then it deviates. The dream was weird enough, but could be excused for anxiety. That couldn’t. If someone really was experimenting with determination, then it was her duty to stop it. If someone was hurting Papyrus, who while closer to her girlfriend, she still liked, then it was all the more critical.

She really hoped that she had just been dreaming. Still, she grabbed her phone and lab coat and did her best not to wake her girlfriend up. Keys in ignition, it took longer than she would have liked to drive to Mt. Ebbot. One hour was gone, and if this Chara was right, then she only had two hours to climb up the mountain before six o clock. Well, true or not the effort would be worth it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As she made it up the rock face to get into the New Home entrance, she really, really doubted that was true. Sure it was worth it, but the effort was just so much. She was going to need at least five puffs from her inhaler. Was that three too many? Absolutely, but anything would be better than this.

Coughing slightly, she resolved to take up Undyne’s offers for early morning jogs. She didn’t know the next time someone would try to talk her into doing physical exercise in a dream would be. When she finally made the entrance, she gave absolutely zero percent of a care as she just dropped to the ground and rolled through the entrance.

For some reason, she felt like someone was giggling at her, but brushed off the spooked feeling. It was probably just one of the memoryheads. Still, she got up fast. Embarrassment was far harder to get rid of.

Several elevators and almost collapsing to the floor twice, and she found her way into her lab. The first note of concern were that the lights were on. Alphys had been hoping this was all for naught, but unlike anime, she feared this may be real. The second sign was the low hum of a machine. The DT Extractor was impossible to miss. The third, and most damning was the muffled screaming. As if she hadn’t moved a muscle for the past few hours, she sprinted towards the room, stopping close enough that she would be able to sneak the rest of the way. Her hands shook wildly as her phone came out, the muffled screaming getting louder, and she wondered if the screaming person was being muffled. That was even worse. This wasn’t just an accident. Someone knew they would be screaming.

She nearly screamed herself when she finally made it to the doorway, but quickly shoved her hand over her mouth. She watched as determination left the figure on the table…wait…

She swore every word she knew in English and Japanese. That was Papyrus and Gaster! The dream child was right!

What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to do? What…?

“E-e-evidence…right…” She whispered as softly as she could under her breath, which was quieter than anyone she knew.

Quickly setting her phone to do not disturb and every other volume function off, she started taking a video after taking four pictures. The more times she clicked the camera, the more likely she was to be caught. At the moment of recording, she uploaded the photos into her drive. The more copies, the better.

{Your determination quantity is nearly drained to the baseline. In a few moments, I will allow it to stabilize, and then we shall bring it back to its maximum, or at least the orange glow phenomena. We must find out how much determination was in your system to magnify the power that you used to blow out the roof.}

She swore once more under her breath. This wasn’t good at all. In her research, she had found it was far easier to drain determination from a monster than to replace it. It took a great deal to kill a monster via determination draining, but relatively a far smaller quantity to kill a monster with determination overload. Whether Gaster knew it or not, he may just kill Papyrus.

Never had she ever been more grateful to be dating the head of the Royal Guard.

Turning off her camera, she walked straight up her regular lab and hid behind her old bookshelf, and pressed one for speed dial.

“Hi, Honey, we have a really b-b-big problem…”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That was a greeting that Undyne never, ever wanted. Being called honey was cute, but problem? No, that wasn’t good at all.

“What’s up babe?” Her plans for breaking her personal record of running around Mt Ebott in 20 minutes were immediately put on the back burner. There was something wrong. Why could she hear machines humming in the background? She really hoped Alphys hadn’t had a workplace accident…but…why this early? Usually she was still asleep!

“I…it’s so…awful. I c-can’t bring myself to say it. T-turn on your data and we will talk via text. I n-need to show you something.”

“Got it. I’ll do it right now!” She wanted to add ‘I love you’ as usual, but something told her time was of the essence.

She didn’t know what she was looking at in this photo, but she felt like bashing someone’s head in all the same.

Alphys messaged you: “Hurry! Get the others! This is a determination experiment, and Pap could end up like one of the amalgamates or worse!”

She didn’t know how fast she was, but as she made it to the top of the mountain, she easily made it in time. Undyne almost barrelled down further, but then stopped. The kid who tried to murder everyone somehow couldn’t kill Gaster? She would need back up. A lot of it.

You messaged Asgore, Toriel, Mettaton, and Sans: [picture sent]. GET YO’ ASSES UP TO ALPHYS’ LAB NOW.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Gaster turned off the machine and gave a glance at his experiment on the table. He was breathing heavily, as if trying to stay awake. He should still have one HP, which he knew from experience was not enough to let a monster fall down. It would be such a shame if he had crossed the baseline and was unable to discover the mystery of the aura. He was certainly interested in seeing how it would play out. Now, it was best to examine the video footage, and make notes.

“WATER…” His experiment croaked.

{No. It could affect the outcome of the experiment. You have never taken in fluid during an experiment, and you will not do so now. Tsk, tsk, you should know that the data can never be compromised.}

There was little in the means of retaliation, just an agonized whimper.

{We cannot die if we don’t have enough water anyway.}

Now off to the cameras. He had wanted to see the angles on this. Logging in on his main computer, one of the only ones unspoiled by a Mew Mew Kissy Abomination password, he clicked on the camera icon. Seven different camera feeds were displayed. As he rewound the footage back to the start, something yellow caught at the corner of his eye. A yellow being with a shiny object, which was obviously her phone from how inseparable they were. His temporary replacement had seen what he had been up to. As he looked at the time stamp, he felt the death bells ringing. There would be no mercy for bringing something that was valued as a monster to near death, especially to his apparent son. While there was a chance at being saved this gruesome fate, the chances of success were minimal, so he might as well go to the extent that he could. This likely last experiment would prove very interesting…but first…

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Sans’ text notification went off, followed by his ringtone. There was a notification from Undyne, but Dad was video calling. Welp, he knew who came first. He’d answer that text after. Probably to go to work early. Sans was never one to rush to do any work whatsoever, but he was loyal to his family.

“hey dad, what’s up with you? i hope there is a good reason for the awakening, because i am bone tired.” He snickered at his own pun. Sue him, he had been awake for a grand total of thirty seconds.

{Sans! My dear boy, I am so sorry, but I think I have run into a spot of trouble. I…I suspect that I have made an enemy.}

“what? is it petals? because-”

{No, it is the young scientist, Dr. Alphys as it were. I fear she has become jealous in my reappearance…}

Sans let out a breath and laughed. “alphys? dad, you have nothing to worry about her unless you like mew mew kissy cutie two or her girlfriend. she doesn’t hate people. i know alphys...”

{Sans, she is trying to frame me for a heinous crime.}

“...like what?”  
{It’s horrible Sans…monster experimentation…}

The phone drops to the floor and Sans slowly picks it up. “where are you dad?”

{S-she’s opened up some photoshop application…Sans’ the photo makes me sick!}

“dad. where are you?”

{I can’t say. Who knows who could be listening. They are going to try to go after me at the lab, son. This much I can guess.}

“don’t worry dad. i will stop this. I p r o m i s e .”

He hung up the phone, and with a hesitant finger, quickly dialled Toriel’s number.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Frisk thought it was kind of funny how much Mom left her phone at home. She had been in an awful hurry, so they hoped that she didn’t need it. As if it had a dire need to prove it wrong, Spooky Scary Skeletons started blaring from the device. Turning on the video call function, they picked up the phone.

[Sans! How are you?]

“h-hey, kid is your mom home?” Well, that was concerning. Alphys stuttered on the phone, Asgore stuttered on the phone when talking to mom. Sans? Never.

[Is something wrong?]

“is your mom home? seriously, is she…?”

Frisk shook their head no, and a word that was very clearly one of the ‘do not repeat around children’ words came from his mouth. He had a pretty good filter, so this had to be serious.

[Sans, what is wrong? If it is time stuff, you can tell me…]

“has alphys said anything about being jealous of dad…well, your future granddad I guess…a-anyway, apparently she is trying to smear him.”

Alphys? That made no sense. Why would Alphys try to smear…

Chara. Chara had been going on and on for the last month about how Dr. Gaster was some horrible person who had been hurting Papyrus, even though Papyrus seemed just fine. Plus, Papyrus never seemed like a person who could hold a secret well. They remembered clearly when they fought Undyne. Could Chara have tried to manipulate another person? Alphys wouldn’t have known…probably thought it was something anime, or just became curious.

“kid. you’re making a face. do you know what is going on here?”

They paused, and walking into their closet. [Sans, don’t make any direct comments about Chara, but I think they are involved. They and Flowey think that Dr. Gaster is a really bad person, or at least act like they do. I am not sure if Chara is responding to Flowey or if those two are working together, or if Chara has put ideas in Flowey’s head, but they have to be involved. They have tried to convince me of how bad your dad is. But he can’t be bad. He’s your dad!]

In their head, they heard a frustrated howl. “Excuse me? In cahoots? Yes, because that is what I do. Smear people for giggles.”

Frisk mentally reminded them of the ruined pacifist run.

“You needed to learn your actions have consequences. Sure I pretended to help, but I wanted to stop you from reseting which, oh look, you did. I have no reason to smear someone unless they deserve it. And killing someone is different from smearing them too! Who taught you your own language? Besides, Alphys is the only one smart enough to actually do something, so should you really get mad at me?”

The phone chimed. “kid, you still with me? that face…tells me you are very frustrated about something.”

[Chara is involved. I…thought of something. They are definitely involved.]

“good. i really didn’t want her to be my enemy.”

[I am going to help you. A lot of people may side with Alphys, especially since they don’t know.]

“fine, but you came on your own idea, especially if things go bad. i know you can handle yourself, but i will protect you.”

“Are you idiots serious? You’re not even going to consider why Alphys has done something? If anyone says brainwashing, I will dust them. I really will.”

Frisk didn’t pay them any mind. Like bullies, you ignore them, and for the past month both of their peers had been unpleasant. They rubbed their hand absent-mindedly on the bump the remote caused.

[I’m going to head up to my bedroom. If you come up and teleport me, I can help you. I think Flowey is still asleep so he shouldn’t cause any problems.]

Once he nodded, they ran up to their bedroom, and with a small joke to themselves, they signed [beam me up Dunkle Sans!] It only took a couple of moments for the skeleton to arrive, looking stressed. Frisk bit their lip in concern. It was rare to see the skeleton this dazed.

“i’m fine kiddo. just a little worried. we’re going to alphys’ lab. the real one.” 

With a blue flash of light, Frisk prepared in their head how to clear this brand new level.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Flowey was not asleep, not for something so important. Why would Frisk and Smiley Trashbag have randomly teleported away, with such grim expressions on their faces?

Also “the real one.” They were going to the True Lab! Why…?

It had to do with Papyrus. He didn’t know what it had to do with Papyrus, but a friend always knew. Why else would they look so grim? Gaster being smeared by Alphys? No, Gaster got caught by Alphys. The lizard had finally done something worthwhile. Maybe he wouldn’t fantasize about killing her as much…maybe. However, if Gaster was down in the lab with Papyrus…he tried to silence that thought. He didn’t want to think about that. He would prefer his friend with bruises than needle marks any day. Though if he had his way, Gaster would have been dust a month ago.

Not that couldn’t have been easily fixed.

He looked over his perch on the window. There was only one way to get out of this, and it was going to hurt. The breeze tickled his petals and he didn’t care that if this didn’t work, this could be the last thing he felt. Forever seemed permanent but what did he care? Maybe Frisk would give him a do-over. Maybe. The pot was easy to tip over, and soon he felt himself cascade through the air, the ground coming to greet him at a rapid speed.

It looked like things were on his side after all. It hurt, it really did, but determination pumped through his stroma and he propelled at rocket speed to the true lab. To Papyrus. “I’m coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, my friend is working on her original novel, and if you guys could give it a read through for a contest she is part of, that would be swell! She's told us all about this idea and had written most of this by hand. Give it a look through! https://www.inkitt.com/stories/action/41658?ref=v_0d77b6db-d034-4b17-8e86-794628cea492


	9. On His Terms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus takes his fate into his own hands as others have different designs in mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well, isn't it wonderful to see you all at the climax? I'd tell you to enjoy your stay, but you might be in for a bad time.

It was a fairly short order to travel to the lab from the house and Flowey knew it from the back of his leaf. After all, he had been created here, he had wanted to get to know the place. In fact, he had even taken design tips for his six soulled form.

Did he know what he would find when he got there? Who he would find? He couldn’t decide if he wanted Papyrus to be here or not. Because yes if he was there, he could help him, but if he was, what would he have to save him from? It scared him, he had to admit. It really did.

He surfaced quickly, due to the inflicted structural damage he had been responsible for all these years.

“Papyrus? If you’re here you better answer me!” He stopped himself from shouting it, because the two he knew were in here…well, they didn’t need to know he was in here too.

A shiver went through his stem as he heard a raspy moan, and for a moment he jumped. Was that Lemon Bread? Endogeny? Which amalgamate was that?

…No. He knew that voice. He had never heard it like that before, but he knew it. It was Papyrus.

“WATER….” It croaked. Oh, oh no…

“WATER…” He slunk down the hallway, listening quietly to the voice growing. It grew louder, but it was weaker.

“I NEED WATER…” There was a sink right there. Surely, if Papyrus needed that, then it wouldn’t be too much of an issue to get him some. Flowey tried not to think about the fact that technically Papyrus hadn’t been asking anyone to get it for him, just…asking…no begging for water. It was a hard thought to not think about it. He felt determination grow in him and he scaled the cupboard, finding a beaker on the side. It looked clean enough, and it had a spout. Turning on the cold water, he ignored the gurgle from the taps and allowed it to fill the cup. The colouring was a little off, like the filter wasn’t the best, but water was water.

Sneaking down with the greatest of carefulness, he nudged the water into the nearest room…which was right beside the sink. Anyone could have seen the sink from that room, why didn’t he get it?

“FLOWEY? IS THAT YOU?” The voice was hoarse, but for a moment, there was a sign of life in it. As he went to greet Papyrus back, the words choked him. Wires flooded everywhere on the simple metal table, attached by every single inch of bone that they could claim, needles stabbing into his material. That sneaking suspicion, the one he had forced himself to suppress came back at full force. Papyrus had been defiled, becoming an experiment. At least his had been an unfortunate accident. This was no accident, this was far worse.

“FLOWEY? ARE YOU …” A hacking cough filled the room, and the voice returned even weaker than before. “OKAY?”

He felt indignant for Papyrus. “Of course I am alright you idiot! Why are you asking me when you are strapped onto that table? I’m just peachy!”

“I’M GLAD TO HEAR THAT. IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG. I AM SORRY. I HAVE BEEN A BIT…” he coughed once more and Flowey rushed closer to him with the water. “BEEN TIED UP.”

“If you turn into that brother of yours on me, I will kill you myself.” Flowey snapped, dragging up the beaker to the spot beside him with considerable effort.

“IS THAT…WATER?” He almost sounded in tears, and Flowey decided that the moment he saw Gaster, he would rip him limb from limb. But first…

“Drink slowly. I mean, it’s crappy stuff but it should do the trick.” He tipped the beaker as slowly as he could. Papyrus sipped gratefully, and consciously swallowed. Flowey felt sick. He really, really did. Not only would he be ripped limb from limb, but he would rip every piece off that he could before he turned to dust.

The beaker slipped and water slipped all over the skeleton’s face. “Papyrus! Geez, I’m really sorry!”

He heard a weak chuckle. “YOU’RE APOLOGIZING TO ME? ISN’T THAT A FIRST.”

Flowey ignored it, and took a leaf, hopelessly wiping the water off his face. “Guh…there’s got to be a cloth around here somewhere…” There was one, and as he grabbed it he began to use it to dry off his face, but there was something smeared on it. Vomit, dust and…determination. Liquid determination.

His eyes tunnelled out and he began to visibly shake.

“I’ll kill him. I will rip out his innards with my teeth if I have to. I have the determination. I will make him relive his death over and over until finally he turns into dust. I will dance on his grave as I ruin every single little thing that he has done for monsterkind as if…”

“FLOWEY. STOP.”

Flowey’s rage wasn’t quelled in the slightest, but he turned to stare at Papyrus. Papyrus flinched, though they both knew that he wasn’t the target.

“What was he doing to you that your dust and determination are on here?”

“...FLOWEY, HE WANTS TO SEE HOW MUCH DETERMINATION I CAN TAKE… I ALMOST BECAME AN AMALGAMATE YESTERDAY…” No. Absolutely not. No no no. He wouldn’t stand for this! He wouldn’t!

“I’m going to get you out of this!” He went to blast off the wires with some very satisfactory pellets.

“NO!”

“No?” Did he grow a second head? Why didn’t he want to be rescued?

“THIS ISN’T GOING TO STOP. GASTER ISN’T GOING TO STOP. HE HAS NO REASON TO RISK MY LIFE, BUT HE IS ANYWAY.”

“My point exactly. Let’s get out of here!”

“I WANT HIM TO KILL ME.”

Flowey did double take, a triple take, and even went for a fourth. “What…?” He tried to ignore just how vulnerable he sounded.

“IT’S BEEN A LONG WHILE. I HAVE HAD A GOOD LIFE AND…”

“You’re not even 30 yet!”

“NOT EVERYONE GETS TO LIVE THAT LONG.” Gently, his hand stroked Flowey’s face. He pushed it away.

“What are you going on about? I’m going to free you! Alphys found out! She is going to save you!”

“ALPHYS WILL SAVE ME? THAT’S GOOD TO HEAR. BUT WHY DID YOU MENTION ALPHYS OF ALL PEOPLE? SURELY YOU WOULD ACCREDIT IT TO MORE PEOPLE…”

“Well obviously she grabbed more, it was her idea…”

“WHY WOULDN’T YOU MENTION SANS? I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT YOU THINK SIBLINGS ARE. IF HE WAS COMING YOU WOULD HAVE SAID IT FIRST.”

Flowey gulped. “Silly Papyrus, of course he is coming.”

“FLOWEY, I HAVE A DISTINCT FEELING THAT YOU ARE WITHHOLDING FROM ME.”

“To save you, duh Papyrus, that’s the most obvious thing…”

Papyrus’s eyes narrowed. “Flowey, you are lying to me. We promised never to lie to each other. We’re the only ones each of us can trust, right?”

“But!”

“TELL ME.” The voice was calm, and despite its weariness, resolute. Flowey grit his teeth. There was no way out of this one.

“...He thinks Dr. Gaster is being…framed…I don’t know it’s just so stupid!” Flowey threw a friendliness pellet at the floor.

Papyrus closed his eyes in a defeat he clearly knew was coming. “I KNEW IT. FLOWEY, I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO BE HARD, BUT I HAVE TO DIE THIS TIME. I HAVE SPENT…SO MUCH OF MY LIFE ON THIS TABLE. AT LEAST IF IT ENDS NOW, IT WILL BE ON MY TERMS.”

“Don’t be an idiot! I am going to save you!”

“YOU NEVER BEAT SANS. I DON’T THINK ANYONE CAN BEAT SANS. FRISK BEAT SANS, BUT ONLY AT A HIGH LEVEL.”

“I will do it this time! I have the determination! Papyrus, please don’t be such an idiot. I don’t want you to die on me.”

“I SEE THIS WILL BE HARD ON YOU, FLOWEY…”

“You…you…you…why is it me you’re thinking about?” Flowey scowled, trying to make eye contact with the skeleton. “You’re the one who just said you want to die.”

“BECAUSE DEATH IS PEACEFUL. IT IS LIVING ON THAT TAKES METTLE.” Papyrus smiled.

“Well, I don’t care about metal.” Papyrus chuckled and he didn’t understand why. “You are coming with me. W-we’ll think of something. We can run away to like…Canada! It’s cold like Snowdin and apparently they have really good refugee laws..surely it will…stop laughing…”

“IT’S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU CARE ABOUT ME, BUT HOW DO YOU THINK A PLANT AND A SKELETON ARE GOING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY?”

“...I just want you safe.”

“I WILL BE SAFE. JUST A DIFFERENT SAFE. FLOWEY, CAN YOU PROMISE ME THAT YOU WILL LET GASTER KILL ME…AND IF I START BECOMING AN AMALGAMATE VERSUS DYING, YOU WILL KILL ME?”

“No, no and again I say no!” He went to tug on a wire. 

“ASRIEL. CAN YOU PROMISE ME?” The voice was stern, almost as if it was a command. It felt like a stab to the chest, hearing that named used in that context, but how could he refuse, even if he wanted to.

“...Fine. I hate you. But I promise.” With head twisted away, he took a vine and shook Papyrus’s pinkie finger.

“I KNOW I AM NOT YOUR BEST FRIEND…BUT FLOWEY, YOU ARE MINE.”

Flowey slowly slid off the table, holding onto that finger like a shy child with their mother’s skirt, like a lifeline to a drowning man. “Why did you have to say that now?”

“WHEN WOULD I GET THE CHANCE?”

He laughed, but it didn’t sound right. He pressed himself deeper into Papyrus’s hand. “If you start to melt I’ll do my job.”

Flowey decided he never wanted friends ever again. They all died on him.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Papyrus glanced weakly down the hallway. All that speaking had taken a great deal of his energy from him. He felt the slight pressure in his hand of soft petals. 

“FLOWEY, CAN YOU HOLD TO THE OTHER SIDE OF MY WRIST IF YOU CAN? I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU. I CLENCH MY FISTS A LOT DURING THESE.” Silently, his friend obeyed. He didn’t like that word, but he supposed that is the only one that applied.

Gaster strode into the room, looking like an angel of death with the lab coat flowing behind him like a cape. Papyrus allowed himself the smallest of smiles because he knew just how true it was. The pressure on his wrist increased and his smile dropped. He wasn’t the only one who knew it. This wasn’t fair to Flowey at all, making him stay to watch one of his closest friends die, but at the same time, he would be the only one who could kill him.

Tapping out in morse code on his petal, he put *It’ll be okay. You can close your eyes if you want.*

Flowey tapped out a response. *This isn’t right! I want to kill him.*

*You promised.*

*I hate you.*

*If you did, you wouldn’t do this.*

*I wish I did hate you though.*

*I know.*

{Now, I am going to flick the switch. You will be filled with determination. Some of it yours, some of it foreign, and I will put you to the maximum before you are killed.}

Papyrus made no indication of the joke that was, but in his head laughed. He was already filled with determination. He watched wearily, though with an odd form of resolve as Gaster turned the machine in reverse. Oddly enough, this time Gaster seemed to turn it higher, as if…oh.

Gaster wasn’t concerned if he lived or died. He had heard the death knoll for his experiment, and decided it would be the death knoll for him too. For once, Gaster would do something right. To clean up the evidence, this would be the best way to do it. Still, Papyrus opened his mouth on command to receive the cloth to bite down on. One last kindness he supposed. Humming filled his ears and he noticed Gaster had ear plugs on. Poor Flowey wouldn’t have them. At least he had heard screaming before.

Determination entering the body hurt much, much worse than it exiting, and only minutes before did he think that he had already felt pain much worse. What he experienced in his toe yesterday came across his entire body. Magic became erratic as his soul was tossed around his chest like a rag doll. He figured he would melt to death, but would it be the destruction of his soul? He couldn’t hear anything but his own screams, and felt his body on fire. He hoped dearly that it wasn’t literally on fire as he couldn’t imagine how that would feel on the plant. Turning all of his measly concentration to his left hand, he found that it was encased in flower as if it were a glove. His hand had become a security blanket to someone else.

He tried to tap out *It’ll be okay* but he imagined with just how much his body was shaking, it wouldn’t come out clear.

Flowey was trying to tap his own messages out, but Papyrus only caught a few words.

Scared. Help. Stop. Hate. Don’t leave. Alone.

They were enough to tug at his heartstrings, but not enough to tone his morbid resolve down. This was his moment. If he couldn’t have a good life, at least his death would be on his own terms.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Sans and Frisk got there, Sans looked inside the room. Never would he expect to see Asgore, Tori, and Undyne in the lab, and even though Mettaton had been created here, he didn’t expect that he would be here. "stay here for now frisk." He whispered as he walked out of the dark room himself.

“Sans! Can you give us a hand?” Undyne called out.

Asgore quickly added. “Do you know where your brother is?”

He snorted. “ ‘course i do. safe and sound at home.”

Everyone stopped their search and turned to him. “Dude, I sent you a text. Didn’t you read it?” With an idea of what was greeting him, he flicked on the messaging app. He felt sick. Sick with rage.

“this is your grand idea of a prank alphys? because yeah i love crappy jokes but this…” He flipped the phone around to show the abomination of the photo, his dear brother chained with wires and Dad standing over him like a cheesy human 80s movie evil scientist. 

“i s n ‘ t f u n n y.”

Alphys looked nervous as she should. “S-S-Sans, I w-w-wouldn’t joke about that.”

Toriel stepped forward. “Sans…I understand what it is like when someone you love does something terrible.” She didn’t give Asgore a glance, but he cringed away as if she had stabbed him. “and I know it is hard, but it doesn’t mean that she was just kidding with you.”

“sorry tori, i don’t actually know what that is like.” His voice was semi lighter, but it was still clipped. She didn’t seem offended, but the pity on her face just twisted him. “you can look at me all you like, but that doesn’t mean alphys is trying to play us like a fiddle. she has always been a jealous-”

An arrow went to his throat. “Finish that sentence punk, I dare you.”

Alphys looked just as outraged. “W-why would I bother doing that? A-after what I did…I-I loved the idea of being replaced! W-why would I be j-jealous about that? Yes I can be i-insecure, but rubbing Mew Mew Kissy Cutie perfume on your Star Trek hat is not the same as framing someone for illegal medical experimentation!”

“you think I care about some stupid hat from university? this is my family we are talking about!”

“Now, let’s be rational here. All of us are here for Papyrus.”

“Asgore is right. You all are frankly being unglamourous and brutish. It’s no wonder why I am the star.” Mettaton purred. “We need to work together if we want to make sure Papyrus is safe.”

This was completely ridiculous. This was completely ridiculous! “yes! because he is already safe and sound!”

“Is it that difficult to just allow us to look?” Asgore kept a calm diplomatic tone, which all it did was set him on edge.

“absolutely, your majesty!” For the normal monster, the amount of sarcastic energy he had placed into that phrase would have drained them, but Sans always had a high salt concentration. “because what you guys are on is what the humans call a witch hunt. you guys have it in your head that he’s doing some freaky garbage in the basement! even if he turns out to be innocent, he is still going to be blamed. all you need is any one of you to take your accusations elsewhere and the whole world knows!”

“Sans, listen to me. There is photographic evidence. You saw it.”

“toriel, i love you but I just introduced you to the whole concept of a smartphone. i don’t think you are the most accustomed to technology. just saying. you see, there is this amazing thing called photoshop.” Asgore looked at the two of them like he wasn’t sure to be impressed with him for having the guts to say something like that, or scared of her reaction.

She muttered something under her breath, something about ‘lucky’ and ‘traumatic’, but softened her expression. “There is a video too. It shows this scene in further detail.”

“yeah, and there is a video of an eagle carrying off a toddler. give me a break. now, there’s something very interesting i want to tell you about. it’s called a bad time, and if you don’t listen to me and leave, then you all are going to get one.”

“You’re challenging us to fight? You think you can beat us? Two boss monsters, one of the most famous fighters, one of the smartest people, and the master of glamour?” Mettaton cooed, fists curled and thirsting for dust.

“Y e a h I c a n .”

Mettaton’s soul turned blue and he threw him quickly against a wall. That shouldn’t be too much HP lost, but he needed to prove a point. He wasn’t going to go all out, this wasn’t Chara, but he would defend what he had finally gotten back.

Everyone was armed in an instant. Asgore revealed his trident, fire ignited in Tori’s hands and Undyne armed her spears. In the back of his eye, he could see Alphys grabbing one of the prototype weapons.

“We don’t want to fight you.” Toriel pleaded.

“well that’s too bad. i told you how to escape.” He stared at each of them. It was unfortunate, but his family was his family. He’d be damned if anything happened to them.

“Very well, guess we have no choice.” Asgore frowned coldly striding forward with his trident.

There was a clapping sound. It was slow, and for some reasons, Sans felt chills.  
They only increased ten fold when he looked to his left.

“Frisk? What are you doing here nerd?” Undyne’s face matched the look of stunned shock on the others. But that wasn’t Frisk. Red perky cheeks and a grin to make the devil run and hide.

It was Chara and they had a reset button in front of them. On instinct he threw a bone towards them, but it bounced off around the air.

“Sans, you should know that in front of an options menu, I am immortal.” The voice cooed, like saccharine, and his stomach churned dangerously. “But I must say, that was an impressive performance you five put on. Little Frisk here was actually nervous for all of you. I’ve seen all your tricks, skeleton so I wasn’t so concerned.”

“What are you doing here, stranger?” Asgore called out.

“You would choke on the irony if you knew, King Asgore. Anyway, while I appreciate your efforts, I am here for the skeleton.”

“What do you want.” It was a question, but he wanted to make it clear that it was a demand.

“Ah, ah, ah. I am the one with the demands, and you will listen to them. Papyrus is dying, and if you don’t listen to me, we can always chat in your hallway about how lovely the day is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope. This isn't a glitch, this is the end of chapter. Have fun waiting for the last chapter before the epilogue.


	10. Natural Selection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara steps in, and Sans learns to redefine the meaning of family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter! The epilogue will tie up a loose end, but this is it folks! This chapter was easily the hardest to write.

The more pain, the more excited he became. They said that one should never go towards the light, but if Papyrus could have run, he would have. In his head, he played Knocking on Heaven’s Door. After all, that is what he wanted to do. Surely he would be going to heaven after much of his life spent in Hell, right?. He screamed, he cried, and his bones smashed violently against the unforgiving table, but inwardly, he was at peace. Act natural, he always had been told, and this was a physical response.

He opened crusty eyes to see Gaster writing in his notebook, and couldn’t help but smile in his mind. He would have to take a break from writing his notes to write his obituary. Sure it would be annoying to see Gaster in false mourning, but what did it matter? He wouldn’t see it. Death would be a fleeting master if Flowey found a way to get a reset, but Papyrus was an excellent flirt, and sooner or later, it would stay permanent. He could go through this a thousand times if the thousandth was the last.

Eternal peace always sounded so pleasant.

Between his screams, he made a bit of a pitying sound. The others wouldn’t be happy. Sans would be horrified-living without Papyrus on the surface would be hard, especially if he was right and his brother did know the altered timelines. Undyne would be upset, but surely she would find a new bestie soon, or be distracted by her soon to be wife. Flowey…well, he’d dealt with Chara, surely he could handle him…eventually.

If there was a next time, he decided that he wanted to die alone. It was too bad that Flowey had to stay for this. He heard human spies used to use cyanide. Surely it would work for him too.

His hand trembled, but he tried to tap out *please don’t reset, but I understand if you do*

He didn’t get a response other than tightened pressure around his hand.

*Make sure to get off my hand if it starts to melt, and then blast me quick.*

His friend wrapped around his arm quivered, but tapped out a soft *ok*. Good. He didn’t want to drag him further into this mess.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Sans, Frisk, what is going on?”

“Oh I’m not Frisk. It’s complicated, Tori. Best not to get into it. It might dust you. ” The demon child grinned far too casually. She shrunk back, but only slightly and he growled.

“what do you mean?”

“Oh Dr. Serif-Gaster, for someone with that title, you sure are an imbecile. You see, your precious little brother, is just dying to see you again…I recommend taking a short cut down to basement, left wing room 665.” They snickered slightly. “Guess the room on the right was a little too poignant.”

“oh? and when did i start listening to kids like you?”

“As of now. You see, you poor excuse of a skeleton, you are going to have five seconds to teleport yourself down to the True Lab. If you don’t, well, I know of a place and time where this conversation will be a lot less crowded.” To stress their point, they put their hand against the RESET button, causing it to glow brightly.

“Being? I appreciate your help, but I do not appreciate your tone.” Asgore’s voice remained firm and he gripped the trident.

Chara looked towards the king with mild distaste. “You don’t want to do that. Besides, I am here to help you.” They turned back to Sans, bright red cheeks and demonic white teeth glinting.

“So what will it be skeleton? Dead brother or worse? 5…4…3…”

He stalled for a second, scared for a moment that they were going to kill everyone the instant he left, but he knew that is exactly what would happen if he didn’t teleport. Soon, he warped into the room.

And dropped to his knees.

Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god….

Dad…Gaster…Dad…Gaster…he had tied his brother, his brother, to a table. His baby brother, Pap, was tied to a table…convulsing, orange liquid frothing at his mouth pouring between the arm he had clenched in his teeth. Determination poured into him at such an unnatural rate. Even during Alphys’ experiments with the bodies had she not been that careless.

His vision was blurry, his chest heaved, and he struggled to make a single word. “d…ad? P…p…appy?” Had all this been happening under his nose? Was he really the last one to know? If not only one, but two serial murderers had tried to protect Pap…no, he didn’t deserve to call him that…Papyrus, what did that make him? 

When Gaster saved his life, was…was that done on Papyrus’ bill? How did he know the exact dosage of determination to prevent him from falling down those weeks he couldn’t get out of bed? How was Gaster able to make an artificial HP point? How many ounces of LOVE were pumped into Papyrus for that dosage of love? 

When he became an intern at the lab, did he work with the data from Papyrus’s stolen life force? Was that critical research ripped away from his precious brother’s body? His body heaved as he pitched over. External sensations were locked away from him, but a loving hand pet his back. The tenderness of a father…no the tenderness of a psychopath…no…no…no…no…no…

“what did you do?” He whispered softly, when he felt like screaming accusation. A whimper compared to what raged inside.

{Son! My dear, you look unwell! I think it would be best if you went back upstairs.} Gaster rushed towards him, with tenderness that didn’t feel so welcoming anymore.

“what are you doing to my brother?” It was as intimidating as a whimper could be. Sans knew he told bad jokes, but this was one of the worst he had ever delivered.

{Standard procedure my dear, don’t fret.} That kind smile looked twisted. He looked over at his brother, who between frothing mouth and more pain than he had ever seen anyone in, nodded cheerfully. Part of his brain wanted to agree. Maybe his brother had a health condition-he had been a sick kid, maybe Papyrus had something too. It pained him to think that his brother was ill, but he had been through awful himself and had survived. Quite frankly, anything was better than this. 

However, it was that flower that pulled him back to reality. He had seen Flowey at his worst, taunting, sadistic. He had seen Flowey act his age, the young child with a mischievous grin and that gullible nature that was great for playing pranks on. He had even seen him vulnerable, how he relaxed into those subtle moments with Toriel after he pretended he didn’t want to be read to, how he goofed off around Frisk and even Papyrus. He had even seen him scarred, watching the sick as if there was a frailty he had seen before.

But never had he seen him so terrified. From his angle on the floor, he could see the vines wrapped around Papyrus’s arm like a lifeline, and he wondered if he too was scared of falling into that pit of despair that began to grip him. 

This was real. He had to do something! He just had to! But what could he do? His brain certainly didn’t help. Visions of happy memories warred with memories that now seemed suspect. Magic flared erratically matching the exact stability of his psyche. He could feel the sensation of dust. What could he do?  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Flowey really, really hated that skeleton. The one time he needed him to jump to action, he fell into inaction. The monster was shutting down. It wasn’t the first time that he had seen the older monster begin to lose it, but this was the worst timing for it. If Sans didn’t save Papyrus, no one could. He knew that alone he was no match against Sans and Gaster of all people, and that was when his head was clear.

He looked at the two repulsive skeletons. “You dirty buttercups…” He hissed softly.

Gaster seemed panicked. {Son! Your HP! Please step out, or you will dust!}. Sans remained unresponsive. 

“Of course you would only care for one son, you freak of nature.” Flowey growled unheard under his breath.

”SANS…?” Papyrus whispered. “IT’S OKAY…PLEASE, WE WILL BE ALRIGHT. WE ARE ALRIGHT…” He coughed and sputtered as Flowey’s hackles rose.

*What are you on about, Papyrus? You. Are. Dying. What does the Trashbag matter?* It was harder than he intended, but he slapped each piece of the morse code in.

Papyrus’s hand shook, but it was different. It wasn’t feebleness. It was emotion. *I sacrificed my body to keep him alive. This is all for naught if he dies now…*

Flowey turned his eyes to the skeleton. If the Trashbag died, then maybe Papyrus would see how dumb this was and would live…or he would be so heartbroken he would die anyway, hating Flowey for his inaction. He remembered clearly how he felt towards himself and the shadow of his former self for the permanent death of Chara.

Would even Papyrus forgive him for that?

Flowey cursed the worst word he knew and turned towards the skeleton. When someone was panicking, you had to move them towards some kind of basic goal? Perhaps…yes.

Slowly, and hesitatingly, he let go of Papyrus’s hand, but not before giving it one final squeeze. To make sure that Gaster would not see him, he slunk through the floor and popped up right behind the Trashbag. With no unconcealed level of disgust, he climbed up through the back of the sweater more grateful than anything he had the decency to wear a shirt underneath it.

“It looks like someone is hurting your brother? Shouldn’t you be giving him a bad time?” He whispered into his left ear, which was conveniently obscured by the hood.

“...but…can i give…dad…gaster…dad…a bad…time?” The voice was whispered. For a moment, Flowey remembered the meekness of Asriel who needed to be convinced to let Chara die for monsterkind. While it left a bitter taste in his mouth, he knew exactly what to say.

“It would be selfish if you didn’t.”

{Son…?}

“I’ll do all the hard work. I will aim, and you will blast.” Flowey grinned, his motherly tone sharply contrasting his hidden vengeful visage. He felt him stand up. Was this confirmation? Was this really happening?

“...lead…on petals…”

Oh yes it was. Vengeance was sweeter than the finest of chocolates, and Flowey would bask in it.

“dad. you were good to me, you really were. b-but i cannot allow you to do this. i loved you, but i love papyrus more.” Flowey took this as his cue and aimed the right arm towards Gaster.

“if you don’t turn off this machine now… y o u w i l l h a v e a b a d t i m e.” A bone began to form within his hand, and Flowey could hear the humming of those Gaster Blasters behind him….gosh that would have been a lot funnier if it wasn’t for the direness of the atmosphere. He made a note to laugh heartily about the irony later.

{Very well, son. I love you too, but you know how science goes. Can’t mess up an experiment mid way.} He gave a casual shrug, as if he had been told to not put the vinegar in the baking soda volcano, versus the determination into his own son.

“call me sans.” The explosion was deafening. Bones flew like missiles and Flowey’s own pellets flew following. As Gaster shifted to the left, so did Flowey’s direction of Trashbag’s arm. When he went to the right, it shifted between.

When Gaster somehow teleported behind him and turned his soul violet, well, that was unexpected. Flowey checked himself for status effects, but couldn’t find a single one. Being soulless had its perks. “You try to break out, I might be able to do something.” Sans didn’t respond, but that was to be expected. Other than speaking, there was nothing he could do, and Flowey didn’t think he could even do that.

{This rebellious phase is unfortunate. You are a grown man, Sans, you shouldn’t be acting like a teenager.}

Flowey didn’t dare crawl up on Gaster, but he had a better idea. Taking his vines, he quickly snaked them around Gaster’s leg and before he had a chance to react, tossed him into his machines. The purple glow and with lightening speed, Flowey rejoined his vessel. Though, it appeared his vessel didn’t need his help. Ah yes, beautiful adrenaline. He was like a bull, hand reaching and grabbing Gaster’s soul. Bones grew on every wall, and Flowey grinned wickedly. It would be far more entertaining watching someone get skewered. The scientist screamed as bones pierced his sides over and over. The pellets between skewerings also earned themselves whimpers of pain. Papyrus, while writhing on the table, watched in horror. Little bits of Gaster’s dust fell around the ground and Flowey quietly hoped that when Gaster dusted, it wouldn’t be all over his friend.

“maybe you should have thought of that before you hurt my brother. how long gaster? H o w l o n g?” He was practically screaming now. Flowey grinned. It was about time if you asked him!

{He sold his life to me! He wanted to keep you alive! I needed you alive! You were the perfect son! I didn’t need that idiot around.} At this, Flowey took his vine and slapped Gaster out of the air.

“Are you kidding me? Papyrus is worth more than five Smiley Trashbags! Papyrus is trying to do something with his life, versus telling awful jokes and drinking condiments!” He took a moment to look over at Sans who just nodded.

“why did you say he sold his life for me? answer me gaster!”

{Every cure needs a test subject.} Gaster grinned as black liquid dripped through his teeth.

Flowey was worried that Sans would crash again, but this seemed to have an opposite effect. The room was blinding with blasters and Flowey ran to Papyrus in the hope that he wouldn’t be hit. It turned out that was the only pocket between the deadly lights. As soon as the lights cleared, Sans collapsed. “why…i’m worth nothing…why would you sacrifice his happiness for mine?” He whispered.

Gaster wasn’t moving. {Because you were the only one who could carry my legacy.}

Sans walked up, and mimicked spitting into Gaster’s face. “it’s clear to me now that your legacy isn’t worth anything.” He started walking towards Papyrus but…

“Sans! Kill him!” Papyrus wouldn’t live if Gaster did.

Sans looked at him as if he was expected to kill his own brother. “flowey, he’s a bad person…and sure i am angry…but kill my own dad? i know he is a horrible person but…”

Flowey got right in the Trashbag’s face, keeping a vine on Gaster to pin him down. “You need to do it. You heard Gaster, Papyrus sacrificed his life for you. It is you who has to do it.”

“...i can’t.” Sans turned away. Flowey wasn’t going down that easy and sharply grabbed Sans’s mandible.

“Sometimes horrible siblings have to do things for their good siblings.” He hissed.

Papyrus screamed from the table, reaching his arm out for the two. “No! Flowey! This is cruel! Just let me die!” Before Flowey could say a word, Sans stood up. With a shaky gait, he walked towards Gaster. His eyes were both cold and screaming as he looked Gaster in the eye. He wailed and the room filled with white once more.

When the lights faded, Gaster no longer had a head, dust and black goo splattered across the floor. His body remained, far too long before it changed into the same material. Good riddance. Flowey laughed. Was this euphoria? Was this success? They had done it! Gaster! Was! Dead! Yes! It was so beautiful! Papyrus would live!

“WHY…FLOWEY…WHY DID YOU HURT SANS?” The voice croaked, weaker than the humming of the machine.

Back turned to Papyrus, Flowey began with a grin “A necessity, but don’t worry, my pal, I’ll have you out in just…” as he turned, his smile was robbed like his victory.

Papyrus was dripping. Papyrus was pooling around the table. Papyrus was dying.

“W…WHY WOULD YOU…DO…THAT?” The voice was weak, shaky…and Flowey wasn’t sure if Papyrus would be yelling or crying.

“B-but I saved you…why do you care about Sans right now? You’re dripping!” He sounded hysterical, but he didn’t care.

Papyrus’s eyes turned towards Flowey’s and Flowey was hit with the emotions in them. All were muted in the throws of death, but he found anger, resignation and fear…

“SORRY…BUT…PLEASE…” He didn’t need to finish off. Flowey tensed. There was no other way, but he still didn’t want to do it at all. “GIVE…ME MERCY…” Tears dripped from his eye sockets. That must have hurt so much, and to live in the eternal state of an amalgamate. That was too cruel and as Flowey felt his leaf, he knew all too well how this would be.

“You were right up there with Chara…” He whispered so softly that it may as well been a breath. Closing his eyes, he felt Papyrus's weakening energy and aimed.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

He really, really was sorry. He didn’t want Flowey to kill him, but, well some people forget to turn the oven off, others forget the machine. Ah well, he wouldn’t begrudge him for that. It really was fair. He had been a brutal guy, asking him to kill him as a back up. It was only fair that he was robbed of his happy ending. It was a miracle that his brother hadn’t been dusted just yet. He couldn’t imagine killing someone you loved. The ringing of the pellets forming around him brought a genuine smile to his lips and he closed his eyes, the picture of peace despite this temporary agony.

Heh. Alas, poor P-

_______________________________________________________________________________________________  
When Flowey opened his eyes again, all that remained was dust and a scarf. Even those puddles became like ash. Sans had looked over to see the dust on the table.

“oh…” He dusted even before he collapsed fully to the floor.

Flowey slowly took his vine, and grabbed the scarf. As he felt it, he remembered the times where Papyrus would let him ride right by his head when the weather was too cold, and even the one time Papyrus bundled him up when he found out he had been replaced by his own mother. He remembered all the games they played, some fun for both, some not so fun for both. He remembered the spaghetti. It used to make him feel sick, usually due to the bits of cardboard inside, but now that is all he craved. The scarf was warm, like its owner, and it wasn’t alive, just like its owner. It would never hug, just like its owner, it would never smile again, just like its owner…it would…never say…he believed in him…just like his owner.

The sound was sharp, like the scratching on the chalkboard to Flowey’s own ears. It was like a sob, except far more desperate, and he quickly tossed the scarf on him, wrapping itself around him in a pathetic excuse for a hug. Every drop of water he had ever absorbed came pouring out of his eyes, as his body heaved from the sheer magnitude of all he felt. His screams could wake the dead, and god he wished they would. The chalky texture on the scarf would never be the skeleton that was one of the best friends he could ever dream of.

He heard footsteps but what could he possibly care? Papyrus was dead. The footsteps belonged to the others, and if could feel any sense of irony now, he would have laughed. Everyone realized too late.

“Papyrus! Holy-” Undyne’s own choking voice cut her off as she ran towards the dust on the table. Alphys ran after her, quickly embracing her friend as soon as they reached what was left.

Mom sombrely walked towards the blue jacket on the floor and without a word, embraced it. Flowey thought he could hear the hitching voice, and Dad sat beside her. He saw the image of his parents hugging, and at any other time, he would have rejoiced. Now, it just felt cold.

Something picked him up. Whoever it was, cradled the scarf in their arms. Surely they didn’t realize that anyone was in his scarf. Didn’t matter…he deserved to be stomped on. There had to be something he could have done, anything that didn’t lead to this. It was probably Frisk. He couldn’t say something, and he didn’t know what he would have said-

“Sometimes horrible siblings have to do stuff for their good siblings…” Was that…?

The world went white.

CONTINUE RESET

RESET.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Undertale fics can't really end sad if you can't think of a good way to hinder resets, and Chara had no promise, so this one ends on a good note as I am sure you can imagine. Didn't mean I didn't want to destroy you first though.


	11. And The World Begins Anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world resets and all must recover from the previous events.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I didn't die or abandon this fic. I simply started University, which may be an explanation in itself.

Papyrus heaved a sigh. Guess he should have not been surprised to wake up beside his action figures and in his race car bed. Above the ceiling, read a poster in one of the human languages “If you woke up with a reset, smile brightly! One day things will be perfect!” He didn’t feel the smile, but he decided to allow for it anyway. What else was he supposed to do? It was his brother who was supposed to have the permanent smile, but he kept his on just as much.

  
He shivered replaying the memories of the last reset. Gaster had killed him, but not before dying himself. It was almost comedic just how close he got to a perfect life. But then again, being a millimetre from amalgamating for who knows how long with all that determination wouldn’t have been worth it. Maybe it was good they forgot to turn off the machine. He could probably turn this into some kind of joke.

  
“I REALLY HATE HOTLAND. IT IS SO HOT I FEEL LIKE I AM MELTING.” He whispered under his breath with a snort. He always made crappy jokes post-mortem. At least he had enough sense of mind not to laugh at Sans’s jokes.

  
He wondered about dying again. He earned his death, maybe he could take a vacation from this reset. Enjoy the void. He felt phantom squeezing in his hand and shut that idea down. After what he did to Flowey that last run, he quickly changed his mind. That was a horrible run for him and they had only been really able to talk on his death bed. The sooner some of those unpleasant memories were supplemented, the better. He knew what it was like to only see someone’s death when he talked to him. Not to mention that was easily one of the worst deaths he had-and Flowey got creative sometimes when he decided to play with his life during the early stages of friendship.  
“WELL, THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST BE OFF.” He chuckled slipping clothes on over solid bones.

  
Time to act natural…wow, he had forgotten how much he hated himself when he used that phrase.

  
It appeared fate had also gotten weary of the phrase, for when he left his room, things were unnatural as could be.

  
Seeing someone doing the dishes and cooking really isn’t surprising, but seeing Sans doing so at four in the morning? Now that was apocalyptic.

  
“I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU KNEW WHAT 4 AM WAS DEAR BROTHER!” He teased, enjoying the feeling of being able to converse with his brother alone, without any worry of Gaster. Of course…that may change once more but he shut it down. He could enjoy the year and few days between his return and now. Gosh, what a scary thought?

  
However, Sans didn’t laugh and make some quip, or horrible pun. Instead, it was just a sniffle. Odd, Sans got sick closer to three months away, not now. Oh dear…nightmare.  
“DID THE BEDBUGS BITE?” It was the standard excuse. Papyrus wasn’t sure Sans knew he knew what nightmares were, let alone that he knew that some nights magic would crackle through the house, matching the tossing and turning and screaming. Usually, Papyrus would have received either a laugh or a soft yes. The first would continue on the morning as per usual, while the second would lead on to a hug, a cup of coffee and an anti bug bite canister put beside-everyone knew “bug bites” were distressing.

  
He didn’t get either. There was nothing to fall back on. This close to a reset? This really concerned him. It was moments like these he wondered if remembering resets wasn’t just a Papyrus thing, but a Serif thing. He didn’t want to think of the complications behind that train of thought. Especially how the last one ended.

  
“SANS? DO YOU HAVE YOUR…BOOM BOX EARS ON?” Perhaps a bad joke would lighten up the mood. Even if it was so horrible he wanted to throw himself in the snow bank.

  
“papyrus, do you know what determination is? like, the chemical?”

  
“WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY MEAN?” He hoped Sans hadn’t watched him. He hadn’t been able to hide that jolt from his visage. From how Sans turned around, he knew he had seen.

  
“oh god…it was true. that wasn’t a dream that was a reset!” Papyrus didn’t know how to process this. If Sans had actually mentioned the existence of resets from him, first of all it turned out he actually was reset aware. The second, he remembered that reset…and maybe all the others he had died. He choked internally, but put up a slightly disturbed smile.

  
“…I’LL GET STUFF FOR THE BUG BITES…YOU…REALLY SHOULD CLEAN YOUR ROOM MORE OFTEN…BECAUSE BUGS…” Darn it! The Great Papyrus had kept to script last run, why couldn’t he do it over a far simpler matter?

  
He felt the weight far before he registered what it was. His brother had run up in a hug, and gripped to his MTT brand pajama shirt.

  
“papyrus, i am so sorry…i didn’t know bro. i didn’t know what gaster did to you. it will never happen again…”

  
He should have been happy with those words, but they tasted bitter to him. “NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN? BUT IT DID. HE KILLED ME. DON’T WORRY YOURSELF WITH SUCH EMPTY PROMISES.” He went to turn away, wanting to lock himself away from this reset when a shaking, resolute hand pulled his face closer to ground level.

  
“i know now. it will never happen again. gaster will never hurt you again.”

  
Papyrus chuckled. “SOME THINGS ARE OUT OF YOUR CONTROL, BROTHER. LOTS OF THINGS ARE. NO NEED TO STRESS OVER THEM, IT IS NOT YOUR JOB.” He had enough of this. He began to step towards his room, when a booming voice filled the room.

  
“i, on my word as dr. sans serif, promise you brother that i will keep you safe from gaster. because you are my brother. it is my job.” The voice, like the hand was the most quavering and resolute thing Papyrus had ever heard.

  
“SANS, THERE IS NO NEED TO OMIT ‘GASTER’ FROM YOUR NAME. I KNOW I HURT YOU BY PRETENDING HE DOESN’T EX…” He began to trudge his way up the stairs.  
“i am dr. sans serif. i am, i always will be. gaster does not deserve a claim in this family.” Papyrus stopped. He would have to apologize to Mettaton, but the face on his shirt became locked in his shaking grip. His vision blurred, and all his dreams seem to rush him all at once. Turning softly, he looked into the eyes of his brother, who’s face was locked in a determination he had never seen. At the sight of Papyrus’s face, which much look hideously emotional, Sans’s eyes softened and he opened his arms without a word. Suddenly, he was running without a thought, and feeling like the child he should have been all those years ago, and jumped into his brother’s arms. The two crashed into the floor and he could feel his brother try to shuffle from his place pinned to the floor so that instead of having his face buried in Papyrus’s chest, Papyrus could now wrap around Sans.

  
“ssshhhh. you are safe now. pap, you did so much for me and now i will pay you back with interest.”

  
Maybe it is because he hasn’t been able to laugh for a while, but he does. “I’M NOT A BANK. WE ARE BROTHERS. WE PROTECT EACH OTHER!”

  
Sans laughs at that too. “yeah, but i have been slacking.”

  
Maybe it is a little mean spirited but Papyrus cannot help making the joke. “WELL, BROTHER, SLACKING HAS BEEN YOUR GIFT!”

  
He gets a little snort for his effort. “yeah, but that is like the one thing i didn’t want to slack on. and like, sometimes i don’t change my boxers for a month.”

  
Moment ruined. Moment utterly ruined. Papyrus backpedalled as fast as he could. “SANS! YOU ARE SO GROSS SOMETIMES I SWEAR TO…!”

  
His brother is in tears laughing, and that accursed camera phone is right beside. “pap…! your face…oh my god! i…pfft…i have some standards left…that is going in the scrapbook…”

  
Ah yes. The awkward moments scrapbook. The both hated and loved object. Anything embarrassing that had ever been caught in the Serif household (god it felt so good to say that) had been captured in this book of misery. However, he loved reading Sans’s section and Gaster had pretty good gems in there himself. He had a collection of photos himself and looked forward to getting Sans and Flowey to get along better so he could add a few Flowey pieces into the scrapbook.  
With some indignancy, he wiped tears out of his eyes, not wanting to look so emotional for any other impromptu photoshoots.

  
“MOMENT RUINED.”

  
Sans laughed. “you know i don’t do well with the sappy stuff.”

  
“TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW BROTHER!”

  
“the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!”

  
“SANS!”

  
“so, does anything cool happen at four am?”

  
Papyrus paused, trying to recall what he would do around this time on a reset. Oh! “LATE MTT NIGHT IS ON A RERUN RIGHT NOW!” He would have watched this episode a million times, but never had he watched it with Sans. His brother made a face similar to Papyrus’s when Grillby’s grease bucket diner was brought up.  
“well, maybe tonight i will make an exception.” He grinned, while forced was genuine all the same. “who knows, maybe he’ll hand his number out on the show.”  
Papyrus squeaked. Sans chortled. “even just mentioning him fries your…”

  
“NO.”

  
“…circuits!”

  
Screaming filled the Serif house, but at least things were back to normal. No. This was far better than normal. He could enjoy this.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chara was unsurprised to find him. Once or twice, they had seen glimpses of him in the void, but now he stood before them. Not that he knew it, with his back facing his coming death.

  
{Betrayed by my son! He killed me!}

  
“I truly do sympathize. Sans, while obnoxious is a stunning opponent. But he only fights you if you have done something to deserve it.” They chuckled humorously, suspended in the void.

  
Gaster looked surprised, and turned towards Chara. {Were you the one to reset the world?}

  
Chara shoved their hands into the pockets of their shorts, casually floating around. Gaster didn’t scare them. Gaster wouldn’t be around for much longer.

  
“You are filth. I hate monsters like you. Humanoid infected cretins. But…I may not have interfered if…” Ejecting from their place in the void, they floated around Gaster.

  
{Really child? Why did you feel the need to step in the way of my work?}

  
“You know that flower?”

  
Gaster groaned. {Yes, my replacement’s creation. When I get a hold of him…}

  
Gaster seemed surprised to suddenly be gripped by the neck. Chara wasn’t surprised, but enjoyed themselves.

  
“You see Doc, that flower is my reanimated brother. Sure he doesn’t look like much now, but he was the best person to ever exist back when he had his first body, and perhaps it is residual, but I still love Asriel.” Their grip tightened and Chara pondered with tainted amusement if they would be able to feel the cracking bone. Gaster gasped as their eyes sunk into the back of their head, leaving pits. “And you tried to destroy him.”

  
Gaster tried to scramble away, but what a silly man. Did he really think he was going to get away from him?

  
“You’re not worth much alive. But dead…? Now that is something money cannot buy!” They materialized the true knife from their pocket. “So what do you say Partner? Want to cleave this pseudohuman in half?”

  
“No! What are you doing!”

  
“I thought your son-the young one, may remember him as your pincushion? I thought he was forgettable…but you are the forgettable one.”  
There was no sound that the knife had gone through. It was just like getting butter for your toast. But butter was much more useful to society, and less satisfying to deal with. Black diseased dust began to float off at the slight choking sounds, turning into a gasp each time they rotated the knife.

  
“What was your name again?”

  
And he was gone, floating like dust in the wind. Chara grabbed a handful of the dust. Nameless, shapeless, and without a single person to care for him. Who said they couldn’t do anything useful after all?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was 7 in the morning, and Papyrus decided that he should go find Flowey right away. Sans was near asleep, and Flowey did have the potential to be awake. Perhaps Sans wouldn’t be so quick to jump on the idea if he told him in this state.

  
“SANS. DO YOU REMEMBER FLOWEY?”

  
“yeah of course i do.”

  
“THE TWO OF US NEED TO TALK. HE WAS THERE FOR THAT…ENDING.”

  
Sans cringed. “i get it. but if he does anything, i will grill a flower.”

  
It was Papyrus’s turn to cringe. “DEAL. I WISHED YOU TWO WOULD GET ALONG BETTER.”

  
“ditto. if i ever get married to tori, i might be that cretin’s dad.” Papyrus silently hoped that Sans would never reach that, because he knew instantly the chances of Flowey not dusting him for even saying that were rather small. Of course, explaining the whole Asriel thing was not his job by any means.

  
Asriel…oh…he owed an apology. He really owed an apology.

  
He walked in the snow towards the ruins forest, where they had met so long ago. He had been killed the first time, which seemed so ironic now. They were friends. Perhaps that would be in past tense. Would Flowey really forgive that breach?

  
“Stupid!”

  
That was him, but who was he yelling at? If it was him, he deserved it.

  
Turning the corner, he saw a bit of a surprise, and his soul was tugged. Flowey was drawing a picture of himself with his vine, and then dashing it violently.  
“How could you forget to turn off the machine! You stopped Smiley Trashbag from saving Papyrus’s life! You really are an idiot!” His voice quivered, and Papyrus felt his heart break. Yes Flowey had made a mistake, but it wasn’t Flowey who should hate himself for this.

  
“DON’T DO THAT. SELF LOATHING IS MY JOB.” Papyrus smiled softly. Flowey whipped around in shock, as if he had see a ghost. “SEE? I AM ALRIGHT. YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG.”

  
Flowey disappeared, and for a moment Papyrus worried he had overwhelmed his friend or worse. This worry increased when he didn’t come out of his hole. Oh dear…where did he go…?

  
“I’m garbage…” It was a quiet whimper, but it was there.

  
There was a small can that one of the teens had left in the forest, and a vine came to grab it.

  
“Here, you can join the rest of the garbage.” The can slowly and sadly was brought along, becoming closer and closer to Papyrus’s friend.

  
With a firm and gentle hand, Papyrus scooped the can from the vine. “IT WILL JOIN THE GARBAGE. I PERSONALLY WILL ESCORT THIS GARBAGE TO THE PILE.”

  
“Good idea…bring me too.”

  
Papyrus sighed. “YOU AREN'T GARBAGE FLOWEY, YOU ARE MY FRIEND.”

  
“You shouldn’t be.” Papyrus would have agreed with him after what he had done, but he knew that Flowey didn’t see Papyrus as an offender.

  
“NONSENSE! YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND IT WILL STAY THAT WAY!”

  
He heard a strange laughter. “What? You really think so?” Suddenly without warning, Flowey sprang from the ground, growing instrumentally larger with his vines. He had seen this before, but it scared him enough to move out of the way.

  
“I am the Prince of this World’s Future! I have killed hundreds thousands of times! I lay waste to cities, towns and the entire Underground! I have toppled monarchies and play with the world as my toy!”

  
This was talk. No killing, just talk. Papyrus didn’t move an inch. He just stood there and took it in, knowing full well this would lead to anything.  
“Nothing I touch survives!” The menacing expression faltered. “Not even…my friends…I kill all of them. Chara…you…I am death itself…” As quickly as it came on, the false anger evaporated. His expression became grim and morose.

  
“So…you better run away…before it becomes permanent.” His voice cracked as he descended back into his hole. Papyrus appeared to walk away for a moment, trying to think of what to do and to slap himself outside of Flowey’s range.

  
“I FACED A LOT WORSE THAN YOU. YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO GASTER. IF THAT IS THE RISK THEN SO BE IT.” He smiled, lying down on the snow beside the hole.  
Flowey looked up at him from the hole, and for a moment, almost looked wistful, but then ducked his head into the ground. “...ACTUALLY, FLOWEY…I…KIND OF AGREE THAT WE SHOULD NOT BE FRIENDS…BUT IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE …WELL, NOT SO GREAT PAPYRUS.”

  
Flowey instantly gave him his full attention, but before he could make his protest Papyrus continued. “...IF YOU ARE A BAD FRIEND, I AM THE WORLD’S WORST FRIEND. I MADE YOU KILL ME. I MANIPULATED YOU, I USED ASRIEL TO TRY TO CONVINCE YOU TO KILL ME. I KNOW IT TOOK A LOT FOR YOU TO TRUST ME WITH THAT SECRET, AND I KNOW YOUR MIXED FEELINGS TOWARDS YOUR FORMER INCARNATION, AND TO USE IT LIKE A TOOL….SO IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE FRIENDS, I UNDERSTAND BUT…IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT YOU DID.”

  
He heard a small sniffle, and then two vines wrapped him up tightly and he felt the presence of the flower near his chest. “I-it s-s-sounds like you n-need a h-hug…” He trembled. Papyrus smiled and grimaced at the same time. Flowey really should not be so worried about him.

  
“OH ALRIGHT.” He knew if he said Flowey needed one just as bad, Flowey would retaliate. However, if he pretended it for was his sake his friend would accept it. Loosening his scarf so that it would fit around the stem and his neck, he lowered himself to share the hug. “YOU LOOKED A LITTLE COLD.”

  
Apparently the scarf turned out to be the exact wrong thing as the sniffle turned instantly into a straight out wail and Flowey had flopped his body all over his head. Uh oh.  
“F-FLOWEY?”

  
“Don’t e-ever leave me alone again! This scarf s-sucks when you aren’t wearing it! Don’t ever leave me again! Please! Please! I-I can’t! I-I-I-I can’t ever lose you again! I already lost Chara! There is no point living if you aren’t in the world!” His chest heaved and heaved, screaming filling his ears.

  
Papyrus, you absolute dumbass. Ice cream was on him for the entire year. Every day, just enough to avoid getting sick off it. He’d even take a trip to Hotland if it were required. He had to find some way to make it up. But this would wait. Now he had a friend who needed him.

  
“I’M SO SORRY. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I WOULD PROMISE, BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT FRISK OR GASTER WILL DO IN THESE NEXT RUNS. BUT I PROMISE THAT YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO KILL ME AGAIN IF YOU DON’T WANT TO.”

  
Flowey mewled. “When Gaster comes back I want to go to Canada! He can’t go to Canada, right? We can pretend to be Mounties and he won’t ever hurt you again!” He tried not to laugh. Something about Canada was just so ridiculous, particularly the image of him riding a horse in a red uniform. Dashing, but no.

  
“OF COURSE.” Travel could be fun though. Infinitely more fun than…er…last reset.

  
Flowey just held on to him. He hoped no one was coming. He couldn’t really see anything. But he didn’t feel any snow coming on top of him so it should be fine. He wasn’t going to deny his friend this. Honestly, he wouldn’t tell Flowey this as the child had quite the imagination, but he wouldn’t deny him anything.

  
“DO YOU WANT TO GO GET NICE CREAM WHEN YOU ARE FEELING BETTER?” Because of course, showing any form of sad emotion was frowned upon by the plant. He felt a slight nod. Flowey pulled away, and like a person advanced his age tried to blink the tears away. Papyrus held up a corner of his scarf and Flowey rubbed his face in it. He knew it would need washed.

  
“I don’t want to let go…” It was a soft whisper, and pretending he didn’t notice, he scooped his compliant friend out of the dirt with his trusty gardening tool and wrapped him in his scarf around his neck. No one ever seemed to notice the lump around his neck.

  
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO.” And with that, he got up to go get some well deserved nice cream…and one for himself, since he knew the fuss Flowey would make if he didn’t get some either. He recognized these moods.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asriel hadn’t been so mad about the whole thing, but Chara was half ready to slice a skeleton in half. If not for the state of their brother, nor the events of the last reset, they may have just done so. How dare he? How dare he invoke the name of Asriel out of a suicide plot? How…how disgusting! To say they were furious was an understatement.  
But then again, their brother hadn’t viewed it as such. In fact, had begged Papyrus to never die again. Innocent, sweet Asriel. Monsters die….but could they say such a thing? Could they really be that mad, when they had done the same thing…?

  
They folded their arms at their own thoughts. It was to free monsters, not death from fear…still, it’d be hypocritical to steal Asriel’s happiness from him. But not to give Papyrus a…heads up. They had always been good at waiting, and even after what appeared to be one of the best days for the skeleton that had ever existed, he had to go to sleep some time.

  
Their opportunity came when in his sleep, his hand went to grip his neck. A nightmare about them. Good. They weren’t going to kill him, but they had a message or two that he was not going to forget.

  
“I STILL BELIEVE IN YOU…” The dying Papyrus rattled to them.

  
“This is a more normal reset. Killing the globe…Frisk making me doing it again because they don’t understand the meaning of letting things rest…” They remarked bitterly.  
“ARE YOU…CHARA?” Somehow even in dream death the skeleton had caught on. Chara was actually impressed. Less forgettable every day. Still in as much trouble though.  
“You are right. Greetings, I am Chara. I am the Angel of Death, protector of monsters.” They clenched their fist behind their back when they heard the softest snort from the skeleton. Why didn’t anyone get it? Was it that bad from trying to stop a human from playing with time?

  
“WELL I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT, SO ANGEL OF DEATH I AM LISTENING.” Cheeky bastard. Like his brother.

  
“Oh I have a couple of things to say. Gaster is dead. You are welcome.” With careless abandon, they took his dust and threw it up like Mettaton would with glitter. “Is this how your star does it?”

  
The skeleton stared in shock, and they wondered if they had died within their dream. From the silence they were almost convinced of it.  
“W-WHAT?”

  
“He’s dead. For eternity. You are welcome. That bastard was not allowed near my monsters.”

  
“WELL…GOLLY…I’M, WELL I AM NOT SURE HOW TO REACT…KILLING IS VERY WRONG, AND YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT…BUT GASTER…”  
“Is a waste of cosmos. I watched him. I know this pretty well.”

  
“THAT ISN’T WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY…” They heard a crack. Dream Papyrus was going to die very, very soon. If only they had come a bit earlier.

  
“WELL, I HAD ANOTHER THING TOO.” Their form was easily manipulable in the state, and black pooled around their eyes and mouth, voice booming as the world shook.  
“Never. Ever. Use my brother’s precious names for your selfish whims ever again.”

  
“OH GOSH…YOU’RE MELTING. OH DEAR…” His voice trembled. Papyrus would not be scared of Gaster again, but Chara hoped that this meeting would serve as a reminder.  
“Hurt him again, and I will destroy you, like this, over and over.” They hissed. Papyrus looked ready to say something, but suddenly dusted. They were impressed it lasted that long.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Papyrus woke up in a cold sweat, panting, and even now, could feel a presence.

  
“I…I DIED BEFORE I COULD SAY THIS…BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM VERY SORRY FOR MY ACTION AND ALREADY APOLOGIZED TO FLOWEY BEFORE YOU…SCARED ME TO NEAR DEATH. I AM ALSO VERY SORRY TO YOU, BUT AS I THINK I NEED TO CHANGE MY SHEETS IT MAY…NOT SEEM VERY SINCERE….” He chuckled with a great, great deal of nervousness.

  
The spirit, or Chara seemed to take that into consideration, and the menacing aura was gone. Welp, looked like he had enough clothes to get his laundry going. Usually that took a few more days. Yep…laundry sounded great, not sleep.

  
Still, Gaster was gone. Actually gone. Oh my god. Papyrus sat on the floor, and hugged a pillow. Could…could he actually be free from Gaster? Would he not have to fear him anymore? No more tests, no more determination, no more death…

  
Despite the parting words, in a guilty way he had never been so grateful to this angel of death before. He wondered if he should tell Flowey, but suddenly the presence came back at full force.

  
“Okay okay! This is our secret! But you ought to tell him one of these days. He misses you a great deal.” The anger is gone, and Chara’s presence feels off, but it is gone once more.

  
What a strange world. And now, what a good world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this story and while I have no idea what the next project will be but I can guarantee there will be one.


End file.
